UAE's Fertiglobe aims to become 'integrated global nitrogen champion:' CEO

Abu Dhabi-listed Fertiglobe, the largest nitrogen fertilizer producer in the Middle East and North Africa region, is looking to become an "integrated global nitrogen champion," CEO Ahmed El-Hoshy said in its third-quarter earnings call Nov. 10.

"What we are saying is, that given our kind of leadership already as a large seaborne exporter of ammonia and urea...we want to look at opportunities to create value, where we can deliver attractively priced products in whatever end markets they go," El Hoshy said in an interview after the call, adding that this could include a wide range of nitrogen-derived products, such as building new phosphate plants, which would consume more ammonia.

"We're looking in the industrial chain at other ammonia derivatives where there could be opportunities also kind of combining sulfur with some of what we produce as well," he said. "So we're casting a wide net."

Fertiglobe posted adjusted net profit of $134 million for the three months ended Sept. 30, compared with $28 million in the same period last year, with urea averaging $474/metric ton FOB Egypt during the quarter. Revenue of $758 million in the third quarter was up 53% from a year earlier and 34% higher than the second quarter.

'Grow 2030' strategy

El-Hoshy pointed to the company's progress under its "Grow 2030" strategy, which the company announced at its May Capital Markets Day.

Fertiglobe said it has completed about 38% of the 2030 growth targets, including manufacturing improvements, cost reductions, and artificial intelligence integration.

It is also leveraging the ecosystem of majority shareholder Abu Dhabi National Oil Co., sharing on logistics and utilities, and reducing capital costs, El Hoshy said. This relationship has helped cut costs and improved how things run at some of its projects, including Project Harvest in the UAE. The project aims to have 1 million mt of low-carbon ammonia by 2027 and has been under construction since Q3 2024.

Other projects include Egypt Green, where Fertiglobe is planning to produce green ammonia from electrolysis, and Project Baytown a low-carbon ammonia project where Fertiglobe is a minority shareholder in partnership with ADNOC and ExxonMobil. Both projects are still in the planning stages.

Fertiglobe completed its acquisition of Wengfu Australia's distribution assets on Oct. 1, with the acquired entity becoming self-financed within two months and expected to contribute $23 million in incremental annual earnings by 2030.

"Our goal is to not just become a seller of these products, but obviously, we can buy products and efficiently move them into Southeast Asia into key markets," El-Hoshy said.

Additional growth drivers include expanded production capacity for diesel exhaust fluid and automotive grade urea, which could collectively generate $22 million in incremental annual earnings by 2030, the company said.