Beijing has set its 2026 urea export quota at 3.3 million tonnes, a 34% reduction from actual shipments recorded last year. Alongside the volume cut, Chinese authorities have introduced FOB price floors of $430-440 per tonne for most destination markets, effectively setting a price floor for a large share of global seaborne urea supply.
The move removes a significant volume of low-cost nitrogen from the export market at a time when global fertiliser demand is heading into seasonal application windows. Buyers who had relied on Chinese urea as a cost anchor will need to source more tonnage from producers in the Middle East, Russia and elsewhere, likely supporting benchmark prices.
For trading desks, the quota cut combined with the price floor reduces China's flexibility to undercut competitors and signals Beijing's continued preference for prioritising domestic fertiliser supply and price stability over export revenue. This reinforces the pattern of Chinese urea export policy acting as a swing factor in global nitrogen balances.
Related on gidex.com: urea supply · the fertiliser desk · buying through the desk
Original note by GIDEX Group based on reporting by Fertilizer Daily. Written up by the GIDEX market desk — see how these notes are made. Not investment advice.
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