Market update: the global competition for fertilizer raw materials
The international market for organic fertilizers is under growing pressure on raw material costs. Interestingly, many of the forces driving this sit outside the fertilizer industry itself — in meat processing, aquaculture and the global phosphate trade.
Organic fertilizers are made largely from animal by-products such as meat and bone meal, blood meal and feather meal, collected and processed by specialised rendering companies. During the summer of 2026, extreme heat in France caused significant poultry mortality — according to Le Monde, an estimated 2.5 to 3 million broiler chickens died in a severe heatwave in late June — putting collection and rendering capacity under major strain. While the precise impact on raw material supply is hard to quantify, the episode shows how extreme weather can affect the availability of processed animal by-products that organic fertilizer producers depend on.
At the same time, fishmeal production in Peru and Chile fell sharply in 2026 due to El Niño-related fishing conditions — down 45% year-on-year through August, according to IFFO. As fishmeal becomes scarcer, aquaculture and pet food producers are increasingly turning to alternative animal proteins, intensifying competition for the same raw materials used in organic fertilizer production.
Chinese restrictions on phosphate fertilizer exports, combined with a sharp rise in sulphur prices (a key input for phosphoric acid production), have added further uncertainty to global nutrient markets — indirectly increasing the appeal of phosphorus-rich organic alternatives such as meat and bone meal.
These developments show that fertilizer pricing can no longer be explained by agriculture alone — it is increasingly shaped by competition across food, feed and mineral markets. At Benefert, we closely track these raw material dynamics to keep our organic and organo-mineral fertilizers reliably available, helping growers plan with greater confidence in an unpredictable market.
Learn more about the raw materials behind our fertilizers
Curious how these developments affect your fertilizer supply?
Sources:
- Le Monde (3 July & 22 August 2026)
- IFFO – The Marine Ingredients Organisation
- S&P Global Commodity Insights
- ICIS
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