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Glossary

Nitrate nitrogen

Form of nitrogen directly available to plants, found in nitrate fertilisers and nitric acid, with a world market of 19.1 Mt N in 2023.

NO₃⁻ · nitrate nitrogen · nitrate-N

Nitric nitrogen refers to the nitrogen fraction present as nitrate ion (NO₃⁻), which roots can take up straight away. A fertiliser is classed as "nitrate" when nitrate accounts for at least 50 % of total nitrogen[1][2]. Ammonium nitrate and calcium ammonium nitrate fall into this group, unlike prilled urea. UAN solutions are only a partial example[1].

World nitrate output stood at 19.1 Mt of nitrogen in 2023, comprising 15.6 Mt as ammonium nitrate and 3.5 Mt as CAN or equivalent[3]. Russia ranks as the leading producer, followed by the United States and China[3]. Because nitric nitrogen is mobile in soil, it is prone to leaching; nitrification inhibitors slow its generation from ammonium[4].

Sources

  1. Yara, Fertilizer Industry Handbook 2022, p. 52 · View the source
  2. Yara, Fertilizer Industry Handbook 2025, p. 54 · View the source
  3. Yara, Fertilizer Industry Handbook 2025, p. 53 · View the source
  4. Règlement (UE) 2019/1009 (produits fertilisants), ANNEX I · View the source

Original text by fertiliser-market.com. Facts and figures are taken from the documents cited, at the page given; no text, table or chart is reproduced from them.

Updated October 27, 2026

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