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In 2020, production and sales in China’s urea industry saw a significant rebound, while industrial demand declined markedly. Author/Source: China Report Network Date: 2020-03-18 Clicks: 311 Due to China’s energy profile of abundant coal, limited oil, and scarce gas, urea is primarily produced through coal gasification; among this, urea production using anthracite as raw material accounts for about 50%, while that using bituminous coal and lignite accounts for around 24%； Urea produced from natural gas (referred to as gas-based urea) accounts for 22% ； Urea produced from coke oven gas accounts for 4%. In terms of production, the output of China’s urea industry declined continuously from 2015 to 2018, before seeing a significant rebound in 2019. From January to October 2019, China’s cumulative urea production amounted to 43.8495 million tons, representing a year-on-year increase of 3.5%. In terms of sales volume, although there were fluctuations in China’s urea sales from 2015 to 2018, the overall volume remained around 21 million tons. In the first half of 2019, China’s urea sales volume was 22.8341 million tons. In China’s urea consumption structure, agricultural fertilizers have always accounted for the largest share. In 2018, fertilizers used in agriculture in China accounted for 59%, an increase of 8.6% compared to 2017. Next are compound fertilizers, which accounted for 17% of consumption in 2018, with little change compared to 2017. The demand for urea in the industrial sector has decreased significantly; in 2018, the share of consumption in the production of wood-based panels dropped to 4%, which is nearly three times less than in 2017. From 2015 to 2018, China’s urea imports continued to rise, while exports declined significantly. In 2019, China’s urea imports continued to increase, while exports also recovered rapidly. In 2019, China’s urea imports amounted to 181,507 tons, representing a year-on-year increase of 10.7% ； In 2019, China’s imports of urea amounted to 46,544 thousand US dollars, representing a year-on-year increase of 2.4%. In 2019, China’s urea exports amounted to 4.94 million tons, representing a year-on-year increase of 102.4% ； In 2019, China’s urea export value was 1,404,719 thousand dollars, representing a year-on-year increase of 81.5%.