Total global number of employees directly working in fertilizer production was estimated to be 926 000 in 2014

Commissioned by IFA, a report by Integer Research Ltd (United Kingdom) sheds new light on the economic impact fertilizers make towards the global economy. Integer has developed ‘global sectoral indicators’ to identify the economic ‘value’, ‘employment’ and ‘investment’ of fertilizers.

Employment

		Employment by Region East Asia dominates global fertilizer employment, making up around two thirds of global employment in 2014. This is largely due to China’s large scale and fragmented phosphate and nitrogen industries.
Methodology: Integer calculated an estimate of the number of jobs directly generated by fertilizer production in 2014. These numbers are calculated by product and by region, allowing a build up to nutrient and global totals. Sampling of reported company employees was collected and adjusted according to their capacity and product/raw material. IFA’s capacity surveys were also used to collate data.

Investment

Total capital expenditure by nutrient, 2015-2019

		Total capital expenditure by nutrient Total investment for new mines and fertilizer production facilities for the period 2015 to 2019 will exceed US$ 83billion. More than half of investment over the period will be in nitrogen capacity.
Methodology: Integer made an estimate of total investment likely in the fertilizer industry for the period 2015 -2019. This is defined as money spent constructing new fixed assets or adding to the value of an existing fixed asset through revamps. New capacity and debottlenecking activities are included, and maintenance capital is excluded.

Value

Combined global value of fertilizer and raw material production

		Production Revenue by Product The combined value of fertilizer and raw material production around the world in 2014 has been estimated at US$302 billion, with nitrogen accounting for more than half.
The value of fertilizer sales
		Sales Revenue by Product The value of fertilizer sales was estimated to be US$172 billion. For nitrogen and phosphates, the value of sales is around half of gross production. Potash is unchanged, (largely due to the fact that most potash produced is essentially sold and not processed downstream internally).
Methodology: Values are created for two measures during the year 2014– The value of gross production of each product, including raw materials. For example, for nitrogen, the value of both ammonia and urea are included, though all urea is produced from ammonia by the same companies. –The analysis also make an estimate of the value of products actually sold by companies, to remove any double counting of raw materials used to make finished products by the same company.