Australian fertilizer companies CSBP and Incitec Pivot will receive support from Australia's federal government to secure urea shipments for upcoming winter crop applications, while May imports are likely to fall below year-earlier levels.
Federal agency Export Finance Australia (EFA) has not finalised the deals, and details are being decided.
The government-backed arrangement will help the importers obtain more urea, Australian minister for agriculture, fisheries and forestry Julie Collins said on 22 April. This deal will help get fertilizer to farmers, but farmers and regional businesses are still under pressure, National Farmers Federation (NFF) president Hamish McIntyre said on the same day.
Australia is in its peak seasonal demand period for urea, but supply is tight and prices are high because of the US-Iran war. Four vessels carrying a total of 161,300t of urea are in transit to Australia for arrival in May, Kpler data show. This is sharply down from May 2025 when imports reached 587,400t, ABS data show.
Australian urea imports are set to reach 983,700t in January-April, down by 20pc on the year, Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) and Kpler data show (see graph).
Australia's national cabinet will meet later this week and NFF is calling for an agriculture specific plan to deal with fertilizer and fuel shortfalls.
Australian fertilizer suppliers are confident about supply for pre-seeding applications from April, but supply for top-dressing in June and July is uncertain because restricted traffic through the strait of Hormuz has caused very tight global supply.
The government gave EFA new powers on 30 March to underwrite international purchases of fertilizer and fuel under its strategic reserve laws.
Argus last assessed granular urea at A$1,420-1,430/t ($1,017-1,024/t) fca Geelong on 16 April, a 68pc increase from before the war (see graph).
CSBP and Incitec Pivot did not respond to Argus' questions by the time of publishing.
