Agricultural Chemical Manufacturing Industry Profile

Companies in this industry manufacture fertilizers and pesticides. Major companies include BASF and Bayer (Germany), Corteva Agriscience (US), Nutrien (Canada), Sumitomo Chemical (Japan), Syngenta (Switzerland), and Yara (Norway). Many smaller companies are involved in mixing purchased raw materials to produce customized fertilizer compounds with special characteristics.

The global agricultural chemical manufacturing industry is driven by food production requirements, according to ADRM Software Industry Data Models. Large, fast-developing countries with major agricultural economies are increasingly being targeted for industry growth.

The US agricultural chemical manufacturing industry includes about 1,000 establishments (single-location companies and units of multi-location companies) with combined annual revenue of about $30 billion.

COMPETITIVE LANDSCAPE

Demand for agricultural chemicals relies mainly on demand for various crops, which in turn depends on crop prices. The profitability of individual companies is linked to efficient operations and marketing. Big producers have large economies of scale in production. Smaller companies can compete effectively by making specialty chemicals or fertilizer mixtures for local markets. The US industry can be considered as highly concentrated with the 50 largest companies accounting for about 80% of the industry's revenue.

International trade in fertilizers is large, because phosphate rock and potash are available only in a few countries. The high product value makes bulk shipping costs relatively unimportant. The relative cost of natural gas (for nitrogen fertilizers) has a large effect on trade.

The US is usually a net importer of fertilizer, ...