Project outcomes

Contribute to the agriculture sector in LAC and globally by increasing reliable fertilizer supply to farmers. The transaction will help farmers to improve crop yields and increase supply of fertilizers and reinforce food and nutrition security. The larger available trade finance lines will allow Nitron to reach a wider range of customers and suppliers.

Stakeholder effects: Increased access to fertilizers for farmers: The main stakeholders are local farmers who import fertilizers to grow their crops of agricultural commodities. In 2021, Nitron sold 6.4 million metric tons of fertilizers to LAC. Currently, fertilizer application rates in many LAC and emerging markets are significantly below international averages, which negatively impacts crop yields and farmers profitability. The greater access to fertilizers is of particular importance given the restricted availability of liquidity and the constraints with respect to country/obligor limits in emerging markets.

Market Creation:

Integration: IFC expects the Facilities, through the demonstration and replication channel, to contribute to the strengthening of financial integration of the fertilizer value chain in the markets where Nitron operates. In this way, Nitron is expected to attract other private sector banks to finance the growth of its trading activity. This would be due to the market’s positive reaction to IFC’s continued support of Nitron.

Resilience: The supply in trade finance, in LAC and elsewhere, has been negatively affected by the declining trends in cross border banking networks. IFC’s continued participation in the facility should maintain/ increase the number of banks interested in working with Nitron. IFC’s participation in the financing will help to ensure participation of other cross border banks, supporting a larger amount of much needed fertilizer imports into LAC.