Algeria orders halt to urea exports to France, sources say

Algeria has told its urea producers to stop exporting the fertiliser to France, five diplomatic and industry sources told Reuters on Friday, October 23. It is the latest trade restriction to come out of a long diplomatic dispute between Algiers and its former colonial ruler. Algerian supplies make up about 30% of France's urea imports, according to the French fertiliser industry association Afcome and the wheat growers' group AGPB, which said word of the halt first spread early last week.reuters.com

The step follows an unofficial, near-total ban on French imports that Algeria imposed in late July, according to six French and European diplomats cited by Reuters. Three of those diplomats said they knew of the instruction to suspend urea shipments.newsquawk.com

No formal announcement

As with earlier measures, including a halt on Algerian purchases of French wheat since 2024, Algeria's government has made no formal announcement on either the urea exports or the import ban, the sources said. The Algerian embassy in Paris did not immediately respond to Reuters' questions. France's foreign ministry said it had not been notified of any such restrictions and noted that trade falls under the European Union's authority, adding, "We will, of course, remain particularly vigilant on this issue". Newsquawk reported that France has raised the Algerian trade curbs at EU level.newsquawk.com+1

Emmanuel Nizon, head of public affairs at Afcome, said it was too early to tell whether Algerian urea shipments had actually been affected, because flows change with prices and other factors.zonebourse.com

Pressure on farmers and Paris

French farmers depend on nitrogen fertilisers to keep crop yields up, and their costs have already risen. The dispute could also become a political problem for President Emmanuel Macron's government, which is under pressure to protect households and producers from rising costs. France saw some of its worst unrest in years last weekend.reuters.com

The wider import ban has already hurt business. Algeria's foreign trade ministry reportedly told importers in late July to replace all French-made goods with products from other countries, except medicines. Jeune Afrique reported that the unannounced ban has left many Algerian partners of French firms struggling.la-croix.com+1

A relationship in decline

Relations worsened in 2024 when Macron backed a Moroccan autonomy plan for Western Sahara. The two countries tried to repair ties last year and at one point said relations were back to normal, but they have soured again since. Newsquawk's analysts said the key open questions are whether France formalises a complaint in Brussels, whether other EU members join it, and whether the curbs spread to hydrocarbons, "which is where the real leverage between the two sits".lanacion.com.ar+1