Fertilizer Business in Southeast Asia

Report Highlights

• Total Southeast Asian demand for urea fertilizer stood at more than 9 million metric tons in 2000.
• Expected to increase at an AAGR (average annual growth rate) of 4.1%, demand is expected to reach 11 million metric tons in 2005.
• Indonesia accounts for more than 50% of urea fertilizer demand and, at an AAGR of 5%, represents the fastest growing market.
• Demand in Vietnam accounts for another 30% but, at an AAGR of 2.8%, this market share continues to diminish.
• Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines and Thailand have large proven natural gas resources for urea production.
• Malaysia leads the region with of 81.7 trillion cubic feet of reserves, followed by Indonesia with 72.3 trillion cubic feet.

INTRODUCTION

Agriculture forms the major sector in the national economy of the majority of the countries in the Southeast Asian region. As these countries try to expand the sector, through diversification of agriculture and extensive multiple cropping programs, the demand for agricultural chemicals, fertilizers in particular, continues to grow. Some of the countries, endowed with the raw material resources, e.g. natural gas, developed and expanded their production facilities, whereas some still continue to depend on imports from neighboring countries in the region and beyond.

To meet the growing demand of fertilizers domestically and regionally, the fertilizer industry in the region continues to expand, exploiting the rich natural resources available in the region.

Southeast Asia countries have been encouraging foreign direct investments in various sectors of their economies to promote industrial and commercial developments based on the natural resources available in the countries and regionally. In many cases, foreign direct investments are crucial for the implementation of capital intensive industrial projects, such as ammonia-urea fertilizer production complexes.

The present study attempts to identify the prospects for expansion of the fertilizer industry in the countries of Southeast Asia considering the natural resources available and the market potential for the products, and thence the opportunities for participation in the sector by foreign investors. Fertilizer markets in the countries are reviewed extensively to be of reference for trading companies with interest in Southeast Asia as a source of supply or sales targets.

Extensive contact information about the leading organizations and companies in each country is provided to enable identifying and contacting the right associates.

The report covers Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Philippines, Thailand, Singapore, and Vietnam.