Dangote Fertiliser Ltd., one of Africa’s biggest producers of crop nutrients, has seen a substantial increase in demand for its products as the US-Israel war on Iran disrupts supplies.
“Demand has gone up substantially due to the shortage in the global market,” Devakumar Edwin, vice president at Dangote Industries Ltd, said.
About a third of global fertilizer supplies pass through the Strait of Hormuz, a nautical passage between the Persian Gulf and the Arabian Sea that’s effectively closed to traffic because of the conflict in Iran.
The war has stalled access to the urea and ammonia produced by the Islamic Republic, and led to soaring prices for natural gas — a crucial element in fertilizer production.
Dangote’s Lagos-based fertilizer plant is Africa’s largest granulated urea manufacturer, with the capacity to produce 3 million tons of urea and ammonia a year.
Dangote Fertilizer has ramped up urea exports to about 77% of current output, with the rest sold domestically in Nigeria, as it prepares for an initial public offering (IPO) scheduled for 2026.
The 77% of output that is exported demonstrates the company’s dual strategy: securing foreign exchange revenue for Nigeria and leveraging global market pricing power for its urea production.
“Nigeria consumes only about 12kg to 15kg of fertilizer per hectare of farmland, compared to the average of 50kg per hectare in other developing countries,” Aliko Dangote, President of the Dangote Group told MoneyCentral at a recent news briefing in Lagos.
Dangote said that by 2028 the Dangote Fertilizer plant will ramp up its Urea output to 12 million tons per annum.
The plant exports 37% of its output to the US, with plans to surpass Qatar as the biggest exporter of urea within the next four years, owner Aliko Dangote, Africa’s richest person, said at a conference last year.
Expansion
Dangote Fertilizer, a $2.5 billion plant is Africa’s largest granulated-urea fertilizer complex.
Dangote Group recently announced a series of strategic technical partnerships to support the next phase of expansion of its fertiliser operations.
Through these strategic partnerships, Dangote Group will increase its urea production capacity in Nigeria from the current three million metric tons to twelve million metric tons annually.
The existing facility operates two trains with a combined capacity of three million metric tons.
The expansion will introduce four additional trains, enabling the Group to meet the rising demand for high quality fertiliser across Africa and global markets.
Thyssenkrupp Uhde Fertilizer Technology (UFT), a subsidiary of thyssenkrupp Uhde, entered into a strategic agreement with Dangote Fertiliser Limited (DFL) to license its advanced UFT Fluid Bed Granulation Technology for four new urea granulation units in Nigeria.
The agreement includes the provision of the technology license, a comprehensive Process Design Package (PDP), and the supply of proprietary equipment such as granulators and scrubbers.
Each of the four new units will have a nameplate capacity of 4,235 metric tons per day, significantly boosting DFL’s annual urea granule production from approximately 2.65 million tons to over 8 million tons.
These units will be constructed in Lekki, adjacent to DFL’s existing fertilizer complexes, which have been operating with UFT technology since 2021 and produce 3,850 metric tons per day each.
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