The global demand for phosphate fertilizers will continue to increase by 3.2 pc annually up to 2018, says an industry report in its forecast for the next coming five years.
The growing food demand and rising population have placed mounting pressure on farmers to seek better crop output from limited arable land by using chemical fertilizers.
Phosphorus is an essential nutrient for plant growth. Together with nitrogen and potassium, phosphorus is one of the most important elements for plant life.
About two-third of the world’s phosphate resources are derived from sedimentary and marine phosphate rock deposits, and around 90 pc of the global phosphate rock demand is used for food production.
The major phosphate fertilizers used are diammonium phosphate (DAP), monoammonium phosphate (MAP), superphosphates, and others.
The Asia-Pacific region is a larger consumer of phosphate fertilizers, followed by Latin America. The phosphate fertilizer market is dominated by key companies such as Yara International ASA (Norway), Agrium Inc. (Canada), Coromandel International Ltd. (India), Potash Corp. of Saskatchewan (Canada), CF Industries Holdings Inc. (U.S.), Eurochem (Russia), OCP (Morocco), Mosaic (U.S.), ICL (Israel), and Phosagro (Russia).
