Fact-Check: Is Dangote Fertilizer Plant the Biggest In the World?

Fact-Check: Is Dangote Fertilizer Plant the Biggest In the World?

Claim

The newly commissioned Dangote Fertilizer Plant, owned by the richest black man on the earth and in the entire African continent, Aliko Dangote, was claimed to be the biggest fertilizer plant in the world. 

Verdict

The claim is not true. Dangote Fertilizer Plant is not the biggest urea plant on the entire surface of the earth. According to the information on the company’s website, Dangote Fertiliser Plant is Africa’s largest Granulated Urea Fertilizer compl

Full Text

Several media outlets including; Vanguard, PM News, Nairametrics, etc. have in the past erroneously reported Dangote Fertilizer Plant as the biggest fertilizer complex in the world. However, the issue became overhyped when Muhammadu Buhari set to commissioned the plant on the 22nd March, 2022 in Lagos, as politicians stepped in their foot and took interest in the matter.

Particularly, on the eve of the ceremony to unveil the factory,  Bashir Ahmad, a Personal Assistant to President Buhari on Digital/New Media posted on his Facebook wall, a glaring image showing an aerial view of the plant, while at the same time credited it as the biggest fertilizer plant in the world.

The statement as posted on his Facebook wall reads verbatim below;

“This is Dangote Group’s Fertilizer Plant, the world’s biggest fertilizer plant, with a capacity of three million tons a year of urea and ammonia.

“The fertilizer plant will be commissioned by President Muhammadu Buhari during his official visit to Lagos State tomorrow.”

About Dangote Urea Plant

PRNigeria reports that the Dangote fertilizer plant, commissioned on March 22, 2022 by President Buhari, is located in the Lekki district of Lagos with a production capacity of 3 million metric tons of urea and ammonia per annum. The facility is also within the vicinity of the 650,000 barrels a day Dangote Oil Refinery, which is also still under construction.

After initially failing to meet December 2020 target for kick-off, the facility was then   forecasted to begin operation during the Q1 2021, specifically February of last year, but unfortunately the effort was hampered due to COVID-19 pandemic that has hit the world harder thereby impacting business and economic activities globally.

While commissioning the complex, which was built at a cost of $2.5 Billion and covered about 500 hectares of land, President Buhari said the plant is an endorsement of his administration target of food sufficiency, adding that it will reduce dependence on imported fertilizers and create employment for Nigerians

Nigeria consumes 0.7milllion metric tons  of Urea fertilizers per annum but Dangote’s fertilizer plant will produce three million metric tons, thus, the excess will be exported to other African countries as well as U.S., Brazil, Mexico and India to generate at least $400 million for the nation’s economy.

The Dangote Fertilizer plant, which has created thousands of direct and indirect jobs in construction and related fields, will provide a major boost to the agricultural sector by significantly reducing the importation of fertilizer in Nigeria and ultimately removing the need for imports when plant is in full production.

Verification

An online background checks conducted by PRNigeria to verify the claim started by googling the ‘largest fertilizers manufacturer worldwide.’ According to the latest ranking available at Statista, Dangote Fertilizer Plant is not the biggest in the world.

A report titled; Plant Capacity of the Largest Fertilizer Manufacturers Globally 2019, which was published by Lucía Fernández, on Nov 15, 2021 and made available at statista website indicated that; in 2019, the Canadian Company, ‘Nutrien’, had the largest potassium chloride capacity worldwide, with over 20 million metric tons. Meanwhile, U.S.-based CF industries had the largest ammonia plant capacity, at 10 million metric tons, closely followed by fertilizer manufacturer company, Yara.

Again, online check by PRNigeria on the Dangote Group website did not credit Dangote Fertilizer Plant as the biggest in the world but rather; Africa’s largest Granulated Urea Fertiliser complex. According to the web portal, the coming on stream of Dangote Fertilizer would surely make Africa self-sufficient in food production and a net exporter of food to the world.

Dangote Fertiliser plant has however placed Nigeria in the third position among other countries, like Iran and India that will lead in global urea capacity growth by 2030.

The report classified Dangote Industries Limited, Nagarjuna Fertilisers and Chemicals Limited and Fertiliser Corporation of India Limited as the top three companies globally in terms of planned capacity addition to global urea production by 2030.

GlobalData’s report, ‘Global Urea Capacity and Capital Expenditure Outlook to 2030 – India and Iran Lead Global Urea Capacity Additions’, reveals that the global urea capacity is poised to see considerable growth over the next five years, potentially increasing from 222.96 million tons per year in 2020 to 305.92 million tons per year in 2030, registering a total growth of 37%. Around 89 planned and announced plants are scheduled to come online, predominantly in Asia and Africa, over the next five years.

Vinuthna Bidar, Oil and Gas Analyst at GlobalData, says: “India will dominate the global urea market, with both the biggest number of new projects and the largest absolute capacity addition driven by its economic growth. India is set to build around 21 urea projects in the next five years.”

GlobalData identifies Iran as the second-highest country in terms of capacity additions with the capacity of 11.88 million tpy by 2030. Major capacity additions will be from a planned plant Hamoon Chabahar Urea Plant, with a capacity of 1.33 million tpy by 2030.

Nigeria will be the third-highest country in terms of capacity additions with a capacity of 11.58 million tpy by 2030. Major capacity additions will be from two planned plants Dangote Group Lekki Urea Plant 1 and Dangote Group Lekki Urea Plant 2 with a capacity of 1.50 million tpy each by 2030.

Dangote Industries Ltd, Nagarjuna Fertilizers and Chemicals Ltd and Fertilizer Corporation of India Ltd will be the top three companies globally in terms of planned and announced capacity additions over the outlook period.

Conclusion

Available evidence based on series of verification steps conducted by PRNigeria including engine search on Dangote Group website and Statista does not reveal anywhere Dangote Fertilizer Plant was mentioned as the biggest in the world, but rather in Africa as captured in the Dangote website. Therefore, the claim that Dangote Fertilizer Plant is the biggest in the world is not true. In fact, the plant is yet to be fully operational as at present.

However, Nigeria is expected to become the third highest country after India and Iran in terms of fertilizer capacity additions by 2030, majorly due to construction of Dangote Fertilizer Plant.