Mexico invests over $3.2 billion in fertilizer plants to curb urea imports
Fermachem and GPO are investing more than $3.2 billion in two Mexican nitrogen fertilizer complexes. The projects will add 1 million tonnes of granular urea and about 800,000 tonnes of ammonia in annual capacity as Mexico seeks to reduce heavy import dependence.
Private investment targets fertilizer dependence
Fermachem and Gas y Petroquímica de Occidente, or GPO, are investing more than $3.2 billion in two large nitrogen fertilizer complexes in Mexico, according to Mexico Business. The projects are intended to expand domestic production of granular urea and ammonia, reduce exposure to international price volatility and strengthen fertilizer supplies for Mexican agriculture.
Mexico imports about 75% of all the fertilizer it consumes, including supplies from Persian Gulf countries and Russia. Its reliance on foreign urea is even greater: more than 80% of demand is covered by imports from the United States, Russia and China. Mexico required 1.6 million tonnes of urea in 2025, while state-owned PEMEX could supply only 19%. Juan Carlos Anaya, director of Grupo Consultor de Mercados Agrícolas, said fertilizer availability has become critical for food security and food-price inflation. He noted that global urea prices had risen from $472 to $800 per tonne amid geopolitical instability.
Fermachem plans 1 million tonnes of urea capacity
Fermachem is investing $1.6 billion in the Agro-Nitrogen industrial complex in Lerdo, Durango. The plant is designed to produce 1 million metric tonnes of granular urea annually. Construction began in June 2026, and commissioning is scheduled for 2029. At full capacity, the facility alone could replace about 58% of Mexico's current urea imports.
The complex will use low-cost natural gas from Texas delivered through pipelines operated by project partner Esentia Energy Systems. It will also have its own power generation and carbon-capture technology. Ammonia will be produced as an intermediate feedstock, while granular urea will be the final commercial product. Access to pipeline gas will be central to the plant's ability to compete with imported fertilizer.
GPO ammonia plant approaches completion
GPO is investing $1.63 billion in an anhydrous ammonia plant at Topolobampo, Sinaloa. The facility will have capacity of 2,220 tonnes per day, equivalent to about 800,000 tonnes per year, and is expected to become Latin America's largest merchant ammonia plant. The project is approximately 80% complete, with commercial operations planned for 2027.
GPO is a subsidiary of Swiss energy group Proman and has long-term gas supply contracts with state-owned CFEenergía. The plant will serve the major agricultural region of northwestern Mexico and is expected to cut the country's dependence on imported ammonia by 70%. Its Pacific coast location also places production close to fertilizer consumers in Sinaloa and surrounding farming areas.
State projects could eliminate the urea deficit
Mexico's federal government is separately investing in domestic petrochemical capacity. In June 2026, PEMEX and the Energy Ministry, SENER, announced a 93 billion Mexican peso program to revive the petrochemical industry. It includes a 25 billion peso ammonia and urea plant in Poza Rica, Veracruz. Construction began in 2025, and the facility is intended to produce 708,000 tonnes of granular urea annually.
Combined output from the Poza Rica project and Fermachem's 1 million-tonne plant would reach 1.708 million tonnes per year once both operate at design capacity. Against Mexico's stated 2025 requirement of 1.6 million tonnes, that would be sufficient on paper to eliminate the urea deficit by 2029 and create potential export availability for neighboring Latin American markets. Execution, gas supply and timely commissioning will determine how quickly import volumes actually decline.
