Urea (Carbamide) – Uses, Prices, and Production

This blog is the twenty-second in a series of blogs I plan to write providing use, price, and production data on high-use inorganic and organic chemicals.  Click here to see the first blog in this series and a list of chemicals to be featured.  This blog provides data on urea.  The primary purpose of these blogs is to present estimates of recent price, production, and sales revenues for the chemicals.  The last blog in this series will compare price, production, and sales data for all the chemicals. 

Uses.  Uses of urea include:

Ø  As a nitrogen-containing fertilizer (85 to 90% of total);

Ø  As a starting material in manufacturing other chemicals and products;

Ø  As a livestock feed;

Ø  In reducing nitric oxides (a pollutant) in exhaust gases; and

Ø  In various medical and personal care products.

Prices.  The 2019 average global urea price is believed to be in the range of $240 to $250 per metric ton (mt).

Production.  Urea is produced by reacting ammonia with carbon dioxide.  Urea production is almost always co-located with ammonia production.

 

From the internet, estimated 2019 global production of urea is in the 180 to 220 million mt range.  Using 180 and 220 million mt produced and the prices of $240 and $250 per mt (see Prices above) gives 2019 global revenues generated by urea in the $43.2 to $55 billion range (180 million mt times $240 per mt; 220 million mt times $250 per mt).