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Demand Growth

Key factors influencing world fertilizer demand

  • World population growth
  • Changing diet in emerging economies as incomes grow
  • Constraints on arable land
  • Government policies to enhance farm yields
  • Programs to encourage use of biofuels

FAO forecasts global fertilizer consumption to grow by 45% between 2005 and 2030
Source: Forecasting Long-Term Global Fertilizer Demand, Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, Rome, 2008.

The world's population is almost 7 billion and growing at approximately 1% or 70 million persons per annum.

A challenge in providing food for the growing population is the fact that arable land is not growing. As a result, farmers need to obtain higher crop yields in order to meet the steadily expanding demand for food.

The United Nations is predicting that the world's population will grow by another 1 billion people over the next 20 years -- to 8 billion or more by 2030.Source: Population Division of the Department of Economic and Social Affairs of the United Nations Secretariat, World Population Prospects: The 2008 Revision