Like three boas, the energy situation, geopolitics, and environmental measures have been slowly strangling European fertilizer producers, who depend on raw materials from other countries like Algeria, Egypt, Morocco, Russia, and China to manufacture them.
The Russian attack on Ukraine in February 2022, with the consequent increase in energy prices, paralyzed the production of several European fertilizer plants. Although the situation stabilized, last year Brussels decided to impose new tariffs on fertilizers from Russia and Belarus with a dual objective: on the one hand, to reduce European dependence on these countries, and on the other, to limit Russia's ability to finance its war with Ukraine.
In January 2026, a green or environmental tariff known as CBAM (in Spanish, the Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism) came into effect, which aims to promote decarbonization worldwide by making fertilizer producers from third countries pay a fee upon entering Europe that equates their production (more economical and less conditioned) with that of European manufacturers.
In this regard, at the beginning of the year, the fertilizer situation in Europe was already complex, leading the European Commissioner for Trade, Commissioner Šefčovič, to state that "although prices have stabilized, fertilizer costs remain around 60% higher than in 2020. This is simply not sustainable." Therefore, the European Commission will present an Action Plan for Fertilizers on May 19.
The final blow of the Strait of Hormuz
The third snake that has ended up complicating the situation was the United States' attack on Iran on February 28, as 43% of global urea exports, 44% of global sulfur trade, and almost 20% of the world's natural gas, indispensable elements for the fertilization industry, pass through the Strait of Hormuz.
For now, the most affected countries belong to areas in Asia or Africa; however, the impact on prices has been global, as the fertilizer market, like other raw materials, is international.
“After the war in Iran, the international price of raw materials necessary to manufacture fertilizers, such as gas or sulfur, has increased significantly, mainly due to the imbalance between supply and demand, since half of the sulfur and about 20% of the natural gas consumed in the world used to circulate through the Strait of Hormuz,” explains the general secretary of the National Association of Fertilizer Manufacturers (ANFFE), Paloma Pérez.
European Action Plan
Pending knowledge of the content of the Action Plan for Fertilizers that the European Commission will present on May 19, the insistence of the Fertilizers Europe group that they be recognized as a strategic industry for food security and the call for demonstrations by farmers, suggest that the measures of said plan are not very promising.
“It is essential to design measures to guarantee strategic autonomy in fertilizer production in Europe, to avoid dependence on third countries and to guarantee our food security,” insist ANFFE.
The head of Agri-food Strategy at Plataforma Tierra of the Cajamar Foundation, Pablo Resco, questions: "Should Europe think about which link in the fertilizer chain you want to depend on third countries? In raw materials, in energy, in the product? The European industry was based on a world with cheap natural gas, and that no longer exists," he concludes, stating that it is no longer a cyclical problem, but a structural one.
The CBAM
Along with geopolitical conflicts, Brussels' necessary environmental measures against decarbonization and climate change have also complicated the work of the fertilizer industry and its imports. “Europe taxes the carbon emissions produced in the manufacture of a series of highly energy-consuming products, among which fertilizers are included. This manufacturing tax can cause the production of these goods to be moved to other areas of the planet that do not have such measures,” explain ANFFE, and add “to avoid this, the EU has implemented the Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM) which applies to products imported from countries that do not have similar measures.”
This rate, which has been applied since January 2026, implies an additional cost on the final price of fertilizers that affects the profitability of farmers. Therefore, one of the measures requested by those in the agricultural sector is that the revenue collected by the CBAM be used as aid for the purchase of fertilizers.
Organic fertilizers
In a country like Spain, with a significant livestock population, can synthetic mineral fertilizers not be replaced by organic ones from manure, digestate, or other agricultural waste?
ANFFE indicates that these products are interesting but their nutrient availability is lower. “There are companies that are carrying out projects to incorporate materials from alternative sources into their production processes, but it requires significant technological development and large investments aimed at making these materials compatible and usable as complementary raw materials in manufacturing.”
From the Cajamar Foundation, Pablo Resco adds: “In this new scenario, alternatives from waste utilization or those made from green ammonia are set to gain prominence. However, their implementation will not be immediate, as especially in the latter case, they require scale, investment, and time to be effectively integrated into the production system.”
And finally, both agree that the feeding of half the world's population depends on synthetic fertilizers.
And the future?
The conflict in Iran began during the spring cereal sowing season (corn), but the main question is what the situation will be in the autumn, when the winter cereal sowing (barley and wheat) arrives and farmers need more fertilizer.
Uncertainty marks the global market, and ANFFE points out that its situation depends on how long the war in Iran lasts. “Currently, manufacturers are facing a situation of uncertainty, as the duration of the conflict and the future evolution of raw material and energy prices are unknown,” points out Paloma Pérez from ANFFE.
However, Spain can be considered privileged compared to other European states. “We have a national fertilizer manufacturing industry with sufficient production capacity to supply most of the products demanded by Spanish agriculture. Furthermore, we import fertilizers from countries such as Egypt, Algeria, or Morocco, so to date we have not had supply problems with fertilizers and farmers have been able to continue feeding their crops regularly, thanks above all to the efforts made by fertilizer manufacturers”.
However, one thing is to guarantee supply, which in Spain is secure, and another is that fertilizer prices are maintained, which depend on international markets, the global situation, and damned uncertainty.
At this point, ANFFE applauds the reaction of the Spanish Government, which several weeks after the attack on Iran published extraordinary and temporary aid, aimed at the purchase of fertilizers to compensate for the increase in their costs due to the price of fertilizers. “The fertilizer sector met with the Minister of Economy, Trade and Enterprise and the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food to inform them of the sector’s situation and we support the implementation of aid to farmers for the acquisition of fertilizers,” they add from ANFFE.
Now we have to know Brussels' proposal and the measures of that Fertilizer Action Plan with which it intends to curb the crisis of a basic product for the countryside and for European food security.