Russia, Brazil’s largest fertilizer supplier, halts ammonium nitrate exports for one month

Russia, which controls as much as 40% of the global ammonium nitrate trade, said on Tuesday (March 24) it will suspend exports of the fertilizer for one month, until April 21, to ensure sufficient domestic stocks during the spring planting season, according to Reuters.

The country is Brazil’s main fertilizer supplier. In 2025, Russia accounted for 25.9% of the chemical fertilizers purchased by Brazil, according to data from the Ministry of Foreign Trade.

Russia does not have the capacity to raise production this year amid a global supply crisis caused by the closure of the Strait of Hormuz, through which 24% of global ammonia trade passes. Ammonia is a key ingredient in ammonium nitrate.

Russia’s Agriculture Ministry said it had suspended all previously issued export licenses for ammonium nitrate and would not grant new ones, except for those tied to government contracts. Russia produces one-quarter of the world’s ammonium nitrate.

“Against the backdrop of growing export demand for nitrogen fertilizers, suspending foreign shipments will allow domestic market needs to be prioritized during the spring fieldwork season,” the ministry said.

Why exports are being halted

Ammonium nitrate is widely used in agriculture at the start of the planting season. Russia has had export limits in place since 2021, while producers have been asked by the government to prioritize supplies to the domestic market over exports.

Russia exports ammonium nitrate to Brazil, India, Peru, Mongolia, Morocco and Mozambique. It also exported a small amount of ammonium nitrate to the United States in 2024.

In February, Ukrainian drones struck the Dorogobuzh plant in western Russia, Acron’s main production asset, which accounts for about 11% of Russia’s ammonium nitrate output. The plant is not expected to return to full operations before May.

Ammonium nitrate is also used in the production of explosives.

Why Brazil needs to buy fertilizer abroad

In the fertilizer market, there are three key inputs that make up NPK, according to Cicero Lima, a professor at FGV Agro, the agribusiness arm of Fundação Getulio Vargas. They are:

• Nitrogen (N), of which Brazil imports 95%
• Phosphate (P), of which 75% is purchased abroad
• Potassium (K), of which 91% comes from outside the country

Consultant Carlos Cogo points to the main reasons behind that dependence:

Lack of raw materials: Brazil has limited reserves of the components essential for fertilizer production, especially nitrogen and potassium.

Potassium, for example, is concentrated in countries such as Canada, Russia and Belarus, which dominate the global market.

Brazil’s domestic nitrogen fertilizer industry, meanwhile, is small because production requires cheap natural gas, making it less competitive than countries such as the United States, Russia and Qatar.

In the case of phosphate, reserves are of lower quality and more expensive to exploit.

Strong demand: Domestic production cannot meet all of Brazilian agriculture’s fertilizer needs.

Although Brazil is a major food producer, its soils are poor in nutrients. As a result, frequent fertilization is needed to maintain productivity.

Demand for fertilizer comes mainly from crops such as soybeans, corn, coffee and sugarcane.

High costs: Imports are cheaper because logistics costs in Brazil are high and infrastructure is limited, Cogo said.

Brazil has had a National Fertilizer Plan in place since 2022. The goal is for the country to produce between 45% and 50% of the fertilizer it consumes by 2050.

To achieve that, the government plans to spend more than 25 billion reais by 2030, according to the Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock.

Source: G1

Sharing is caring!