Chinese urea export restriction

[Back to News Brief ↑] The Structural Conditions Driving Input Costs in 2026 The 2026 crop year arrived with a fertilizer market already tightening on the back of supply conditions left from 2025, and two events since late January have accelerated that tightening into the sharpest nitrogen cost environment Alberta producers have faced since 2021–22….

Nitrogen fertilizer costs are 45% above year-ago levels in Alberta. The Strait of Hormuz crisis and Chinese urea ban are changing Prairie crop economics. Alberta grain producers are heading into the final stretch of seeding with nitrogen fertilizer costs at the highest levels since the 2022 commodity price shock, driven by two simultaneous supply disruptions:…