• Deal includes four new urea granulation units using German technology

• Production capacity to rise from 3 million to over 8 million tons per year

• Expansion could make Dangote the world’s largest urea producer

Dangote Fertiliser announced on November 11 a partnership with Thyssenkrupp Uhde, a subsidiary of Germany’s Thyssenkrupp AG specializing in chemical process engineering. Under the agreement, the Nigerian manufacturer will build four new urea granulation units near its existing nitrogen fertilizer complex in Lekki. Each unit will have a daily production capacity of 4,235 tons and will use Thyssenkrupp’s “Fluid Bed Granulation” technology.

Combining high operational efficiency with low emissions, this advanced technique is already used in more than 70% of global urea production, according to Reuters. With this expansion, Dangote Fertiliser’s total installed capacity will increase from 3 million tons to more than 8 million tons of urea per year. This scale would surpass Qatar Fertiliser Company’s (QAFCO) installed capacity of 5.6 million tons, positioning Dangote as the world’s largest producer of this mineral fertilizer.

Once fully operational, the new capacity will also open fresh growth opportunities for the Dangote Industries subsidiary, particularly through expanded exports to other African countries and international markets such as South America and Asia. This development would position the company as a key global player in the fertilizer industry, alongside OCP, U.S.-based Mosaic, and Saudi producers Ma’aden and SABIC Agri-Nutrients.

More broadly, this industrial expansion reflects the ambition expressed by businessman Aliko Dangote earlier this year. “In the next 40 months, Africa will not import fertiliser from anywhere. We have a very aggressive trajectory right now. We want to put Dangote to be the highest producer of urea, bigger and higher than Qatar - give me 40 months,,” he declared in June during the 32nd Annual General Meetngs of Afreximbank in Abuja.

Since then, the group has also signed an agreement in August with Ethiopian Investment Holdings (EIH) to build a fertilizer plant in Gode, southeastern Ethiopia. The project, valued at an estimated $2.5 billion, is expected to have an annual production capacity of 3 million tons.