According to statistics, from January to September, China's apparent nitrogen fertilizer consumption was 27.2 million tons (pure), with a year-on-year growth of 2.6%. The apparent consumption of urea was 40.317 million tons, increasing 3.3% year-on-year. However, Gao Li, deputy secretary general of the China Nitrogen Fertilizer Industry Association, also pointed out some current problems in the nitrogen industry.

First, the pressure on safety and environmental protection has increased. After the accident in Beirut, Lebanon, the Emergency Ministry upgraded the safety management against ammonium nitrate related enterprises. At the same time, the industry is also facing environmental pressure, such as the explosion of compound fertilizer pelleting tower in Shandong, the implementation of graded control of coal-to-nitrogen fertilizer production in some regions of China during heavy pollution weather in autumn and winter, and the complete shutdown of fixed bed intermittent coal gasification units in Henan province before December 10th.

Second, the pressure of competition in the international market continues unabated. From 2020 to 2023, it is expected that there will be about 20 synthetic ammonia plants in the world putting into operation, with an increase of production capacity of about 12.6 million tons and an increase of nitrogen fertilizer production capacity of about 4.6 million tons, which will put pressure on China's nitrogen fertilizer export. Meanwhile, the appreciation of the RMB causes stress on urea export.

Third, the price of raw materials began to rise. According to the survey of China Nitrogen Fertilizer Industry Association on October 27th, the average price of mainstream anthracite coal to plant was 929 yuan/ton, down 7.29% year-on-year, and the price of gasified bituminous coal to plant was 716 yuan/ton, down 0.97%.

Recently, when the nitrogen fertilizer enterprise in Southwest China negotiated the natural gas purchase and sales contract with the gas supply units, the gas supply units required to raise the gas price of chemical fertilizer by 20%, which is expected to reach 1.86~1.92 yuan/m3.