Fertilizer registrations and importation in the Philippines in 2022

In 2022, the Philippines' Fertilizer and Pesticide Authority (FPA)'s Fertilizer Regulations Division (FRD) issued a total of 4,375 regulatory documents consisting of EUPs, certificate of product registrations, licenses, TPAs, VAT exempt, export and other certificates, and amendments on fertilizer registration, according to the Fertilizer and Pesticide Annual Report published by FPA.

Product Registrations

Registration of imported and locally produced fertilizers requires the submission of production specifications supported by passed confirmatory analysis, product type, and the result of efficacy trials conducted by an FPA-accredited and independent researcher. If all the technical and administrative requirements were satisfied, registration could be permitted.

For FY 2022, FRD released a total of 904 product registration certificates (501 new product registrations and 403 renewed product registrations). These registrations are marked as full or provisional registration for traditional and non-traditional fertilizers. Label expansion certificate, on the other hand, is granted to registrants who wish to add other crop groupings to the target crop/s of their non-traditional product. Seven (7) certificates were processed for the year.

FPA released 175 Experimental Use permits (EUPs), a prerequisite for the bio-efficacy field test, for testing fertilizer products. Such a permit is necessary to qualify any data from the conducted studies. To oversee a fair distribution, FPA also grants an agreement between the primary registrant and handlers to sell or distribute the product through third party authorization (TPA). TPA processes have reached 171 throughout the year.

Fertilizer Importation and Utilization

The total volume of fertilizer imports in 2022 amounted to 2,174,428.99 metric tons, which indicates an 8.3% decrease compared to 2021 imports (Table 1). However, despite the decline in volume, the total importation value increased significantly by 57%, primarily due to the rise in fertilizer prices. The surge in fertilizer prices that began in mid-2021 continued in 2022, mainly due to high and volatile energy prices, increased transportation costs, and higher demand.

Table 1: Comparison of 2022 vs. 2021 Fertilizer Importation Volume and Value

Meanwhile, Table 2 indicates that in 2022, the total fertilizer utilization was 2,518,010.82 metric tons. Of this total, 86.36% (2,174,428.99 MT) were imports, 14.63% (368,264.78 MT) were produced locally, and 0.98% (24,682.95 MT) were exported. Urea and ammonium sulfate were the top two imported fertilizer types, with volumes of 649,130.01 MT (29.85%) and 613,725.73 MT (28.22%), respectively. The production of complete fertilizer was the highest at 413,452.25 MT, which accounts for 58.82% of the total local production.

Overall, the six major fertilizer grades, including urea, ammonium sulfate, complete fertilizer, ammonium phosphate, muriate of potash, and diammonium phosphate, made up 89.08% of the total fertilizer volume utilization in 2022. Urea comprised 25.78%, ammonium sulfate comprised 24.37%, and complete fertilizer comprised 16.42%. None of the major fertilizer grades were exported, only minor grades were exported.

Table 2. 2022 Fertilizer Volume Utilization