PEMEX Reports 21% Surge in Fertilizer Output in 2025

PEMEX reported that it closed 2025 with a 21% increase in fertilizer production compared to the prior year. Total output climbed from 807,000t in 2024 to 975,000t in 2025, reinforcing Mexico’s strategy to increase food sovereignty strategy and signaling a broader revival of the country's long-dormant petrochemical sector.

PEMEX highlights that the production breakdown underscores the diversity of the output achieved: 590,000t corresponds to phosphate-based fertilizers, 220,000t to urea, and 165,000t to nitrogen-based fertilizers. The figures represent a meaningful step forward in PEMEX's mission to reduce Mexico's dependency on imported agricultural inputs, mentioned the NOC; a goal that has taken on renewed urgency under President Claudia Sheinbaum's administration as global supply chains for fertilizers remain volatile.

PEMEX meets only over 30% of national fertilizer demand, with the remaining demand is still sourced through imports. The government's Fertilizers for Well-Being program, designed to distribute free fertilizers directly to over 2 million small-scale farmers, aims to provide 1Mt of fertilizer to cover more than 3.3 million ha of crops. The 2025 production gains bring PEMEX meaningfully closer to fulfilling that commitment with domestically produced supply.

Looking ahead to 2026, PEMEX has set an ambitious production target of 558,000t of ammonia annually, a compound that is foundational to the manufacture of nitrogen-based fertilizers. Achieving that target will require sustained investment in petrochemical infrastructure, and the company has outlined a concrete roadmap to get there.

Two major investment projects are at the center of the 2026 fertilizer push. The first involves an MX$8 billion public and mixed-investment initiative at the Escolín Petrochemical Complex in Poza Rica, Veracruz. The Escolín project, being developed through a partnership between PEMEX Industrial Transformation (PTI) and Portuguese construction firm Mota-Engil, is expected to produce 2,125t/d of urea once operational, with an annual production capacity of 700,000t, including AdBlue. The second project involves an MX$2 billion investment at the Cosoleacaque Petrochemical Complex in southern Veracruz, a facility that houses four of Mexico's key ammonia production plants.

Beyond fertilizers, PEMEX is staking out equally ambitious plans for its broader petrochemical portfolio in 2026. The company will direct MX$8 billion toward projects along the ethane-ethylene production chain, an investment expected to generate 357,000t/y  of ethylene derivatives. A separate MX$3 billion investment will target aromatics production, with a projected output of 276,000t/y. These moves are part of what PEMEX describes as a strategic renaissance of its petrochemical industrial base, one that had been largely neglected for decades.

The petrochemical industry has been long neglected, and PEMEX is now overhauling facilities such as Cosoleacaque, Cangrejera, and Morelos to boost production of ammonia, urea, and other key chemicals, with plans to evolve traditional refineries into petrochemical hubs. The five complexes currently undergoing recovery and modernization, Cangrejera, Morelos, Pajaritos, Cosoleacaque, and Independencia, represent the backbone of what PEMEX hopes will become a reinvigorated industrial value chain stretching across the Gulf Coast.

PEMEX's broader strategic plan, as outlined by Director Víctor Rodríguez, includes increasing high-value fuel and fertilizer production and relaunching the petrochemical industry as part of a vision centered on sovereignty and long-term economic viability. The 2025 fertilizer results suggest that this vision is beginning to translate into measurable operational outcomes, even as the company continues to navigate significant financial challenges.

The social dimension of the fertilizer program remains equally central to PEMEX's public mandate. By supplying inputs for the Fertilizers for Well-Being program, the company directly supports millions of smallholder farmers, many of them in the country's poorest rural communities, who depend on affordable agricultural inputs to sustain their livelihoods. PEMEX has framed this function not merely as a commercial activity but as a constitutional commitment, given that free fertilizer access for small-scale producers was enshrined in Mexico's constitution in 2025.