5.3% Yearly Growth in GCC Fertilizer Exports

5.3% Yearly Growth in GCC Fertilizer Exports
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5.3% Yearly Growth in GCC Fertilizer Exports

5.3% Yearly Growth in GCC Fertilizer Exports

Fertilizer exports from the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) states have hit a historic record, reaching 20.4 million tons in 2017, growing by 5.3 percent year over year, according to Gulf Petrochemicals and Chemicals Association (GPCA).

“Certainly, these growth figures contradict with what may result in the aggravation of tension in world markets and the changes imposed by trade policies among great economic powers such as the United States, the European Union and China,” GPCA said.

The GCC fertilizer industry remains heavily export-oriented, shipping its products to 80 countries in the world, with India, Brazil and the US as the top three export destinations.

Asia accounted for 55 percent of total exports in 2017, followed by South America with 21 percent, North America (15 percent) and Africa (seven percent).

According to figures by GPCA, the GCC fertilizer production capacity is likely to reach 38.9 million tons this year and poised to hit an estimated 47 million tons by 2025 growing at a CAGR (compound annual growth rate) of 7.7 percent between 2007-2017.

Saudi Arabia produces about half of the GCC's fertilizer production for 2018, at 46 percent.

GPCA said the sales revenues have also been growing at a CAGR of 5.7 percent between 2010 and 2017, standing at $5.9 billion in 2017, albeit down from a peak of $7.2 billion in 2014 due to a drop in global fertilizer prices.

As a key contributor to socioeconomic development in the region, GCC fertilizer industry provides 54,900 direct and indirect jobs. In 2017, the industry generated $6.7 billion in indirect economic activity in the region.

The figures came ahead of the 9th GPCA Fertilizer Convention set to be held on Sept. 18-20 in Muscat, Oman.

The three-day forum will highlight the key role of fertilizers in ensuring food security, innovations in regional agriculture and new trade developments in the world.

“Despite a continuing rise in global market protectionism, the Gulf region has enjoyed record high fertilizer exports in 2017, thus, cementing its position as a globally recognized hub for the production and export of fertilizers,” said GPCA Secretary-General Dr. Abdulwahab al-Sadoun.

"To sustain and increase this growth, the industry would need to continue to explore new markets globally, and free trade will play a key role in ensuring its profitability and the sustainable development of the region, to which the industry is an important contributor," he explained.



European Trade Ministers Meet to Forge Strategy after Surprise 30% Tariffs from Trump

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen gives a speech during a plenary session at the European Parliament, in Strasbourg on July 9, 2025. (Photo by Jean-Christophe VERHAEGEN / AFP)
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen gives a speech during a plenary session at the European Parliament, in Strasbourg on July 9, 2025. (Photo by Jean-Christophe VERHAEGEN / AFP)
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European Trade Ministers Meet to Forge Strategy after Surprise 30% Tariffs from Trump

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen gives a speech during a plenary session at the European Parliament, in Strasbourg on July 9, 2025. (Photo by Jean-Christophe VERHAEGEN / AFP)
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen gives a speech during a plenary session at the European Parliament, in Strasbourg on July 9, 2025. (Photo by Jean-Christophe VERHAEGEN / AFP)

European trade ministers are meeting in Brussels on Monday, following US President Donald Trump’s surprise announcement of 30% tariffs on the European Union.

The EU is America’s biggest business partner and the world’s largest trading bloc. The US decision will have repercussions for governments, companies and consumers on both sides of the Atlantic, the Associated Press said.

“We shouldn’t impose countermeasures at this stage, but we should prepare to be ready to use all the tools in the toolbox,” said Denmark’s foreign minister, Lars Løkke Rasmussen, told reporters ahead of the meeting. “So we want a deal, but there’s an old saying: ’If you want peace, you have to prepare for war.'”

The tariffs, also imposed on Mexico, are set to start on Aug. 1 and could make everything from French cheese and Italian leather goods to German electronics and Spanish pharmaceuticals more expensive in the US, and destabilize economies from Portugal to Norway.

Meanwhile, Brussels decided to suspend retaliatory tariffs on US goods scheduled to take effect Monday in hopes of reaching a trade deal with the Trump administration by the end of the month.

The “countermeasures” by the EU, which negotiates trade deals on behalf of its 27 member countries, will be delayed until Aug. 1.

Trump’s letter shows “that we have until the first of August” to negotiate, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen told reporters in Brussels on Sunday.

The letters to the EU and Mexico come in the midst of an on-and-off Trump threat to impose tariffs on countries and right an imbalance in trade.

Trump in April imposed tariffs on dozens of countries, before pausing them for 90 days to negotiate individual deals. As the three-month grace period ended this week, he began sending tariff letters to leaders but again has pushed back the implementation day for what he says will be just a few more weeks.

If he moves forward with the tariffs, it could have ramifications for nearly every aspect of the global economy.

In the wake of the new tariffs, European leaders largely closed ranks, calling for unity but also a steady hand to not provoke further acrimony.

Just last week, Europe was cautiously optimistic.

Officials told reporters on Friday they weren't expecting a letter like the one sent Saturday and that a trade deal was to be inked in “the coming days." For months, the EU has broadcast that it has strong retaliatory measures ready if talks fail.

Reeling from successive rebukes from Washington, the EU is now diversifying its economic, political and defense networks, mostly in Asia.

The EU top brass will visit Beijing for a summit later this month while courting other Pacific nations like South Korea, Japan, Vietnam, Singapore, the Philippines, and Indonesia, whose prime minister visited Brussels over the weekend to sign a new economic partnership with the EU. It also has mega-deals in the works with Mexico and a trading bloc of South American nations known as Mercosur.

While meeting with Indonesia's prime minister on Sunday, Von der Leyen said that “when economic uncertainty meets geopolitical volatility, partners like us must come closer together.”