What CBAM adds to a tonne of urea at the EU border in 2026: Egypt, Algeria, China

By Ahmed Medhat · Published28 September 2026

Urea prices move every month. The urea benchmark in the World Bank's commodity price data, described in its data file as "Urea, (Ukraine), prill spot f.o.b. Middle East", averaged USD 390.0 a tonne in August 2026 (World Bank Commodity Price Data (The Pink Sheet), CC BY 4.0). That is a Middle East prilled price, not an Egyptian or Algerian one; the figures below for Egypt and Algeria come from Eurostat. For urea imported into the EU from 2026, the authorised CBAM declarant bringing it in has one more cost: CBAM certificates. This article works out that cost for a tonne of urea imported in 2026, one step at a time, using the default values the Commission publishes. Every CBAM figure below comes from an act you can check.

Which code

Urea is CN 3102 10 19: "Urea, whether or not in aqueous solution, containing >45% nitrogen in relation to the weight of the dry product", leaving out tablets, packs of 10 kg or less, and the two aqueous-solution bands, which have their own codes (3102 10 12 and 3102 10 15). Granular and prilled urea as traded, including the benchmark above, is 3102 10 19. It sits in the Fertilisers group of Annex I to Regulation (EU) 2023/956 (heading 3102).

The default values

The default values are in the country tables of Annex I to Implementing Regulation (EU) 2026/1740, which applies from 1 January 2026. For 3102 10 19, in tonnes of CO2e per tonne of urea:

• Egypt: direct 1.320, indirect 0.080, total 1.390
• Algeria: direct 1.320, indirect 0.100, total 1.410
• China: direct 2.700, indirect 0.140, total 2.850
• Other countries and territories: direct 2.600, indirect 0.120, total 2.720

The Total column is the one that counts: "the default values of the column 'total emissions' shall be selected" (Annex I, opening paragraph). Recital 10 of the act explains that rounding rules were applied, and that the direct and indirect values "have only been provided for information". That is why a total can differ from the sum of its two parts by 0.01.

A country that is not listed, or is listed with no value for the good, takes the "Other countries and territories" row (same act, Annex I, opening paragraph).

Both halves count for fertilisers

For most iron and steel goods, aluminium, hydrogen and electricity, only direct emissions count: those goods are listed in Annex II of Regulation (EU) 2023/956, and Article 7(1) says "For goods listed in Annex II only direct emissions shall be calculated and taken into account". Fertilisers are not in Annex II, so for urea the direct and indirect emissions both count, which is the Total above.

The mark-up is 1 %

A default value is increased by a mark-up. For most CBAM sectors that is 10 % in 2026, rising to 30 % from 2028. For fertilisers it is "1 % for the year 2026 and onwards" (IR (EU) 2026/1740, Annex I, opening paragraph). So the Egyptian figure becomes 1.390 × 1.01 = 1.4039 tCO2e per tonne.

The deduction for free allocation

EU producers of urea still get part of their emission allowances free, so the certificates the authorised CBAM declarant surrenders are reduced to match (Article 31 of Regulation (EU) 2023/956). The deduction per tonne is set by Equation 6 of the Annex to Implementing Regulation (EU) 2025/2620: the default CBAM benchmark for the good × the CBAM factor for the year × the cross-sectoral correction factor.

• The benchmark for 3102 10 19 is 0.902 tCO2e per tonne (point 5, Column B, the column used with default values).
• The CBAM factor for 2026 is 97.5 % (Directive 2003/87/EC, Article 10a(1a)).
• The cross-sectoral correction factor for 2026 has not been published, so it is taken as 1.0 here. If it comes out lower, the deduction shrinks and every figure below rises.

0.902 × 0.975 = 0.87945 tCO2e per tonne, the same for every country of origin.

The price

For goods imported in 2026, the certificate price is the average for the quarter of import (Article 21(1a) of Regulation (EU) 2023/956; IR (EU) 2025/2548, Article 1). The Commission published €75.36 for the first quarter of 2026 and €75.28 for the second. The third-quarter price is due in October. Certificates go on sale from 1 February 2027 (Article 20(1)), and the first surrender for 2026 imports is due by 30 September 2027 (Article 22(1)).

What it adds per tonne

Take the total default, multiply by 1.01, subtract 0.87945, and multiply what is left by the price of the quarter of import:

• Egypt: 1.390 × 1.01 = 1.4039; less 0.87945 = 0.52445 tCO2e. €39.52 a tonne for a first-quarter import (€75.36), €39.48 for a second-quarter one (€75.28).
• Algeria: 1.410 × 1.01 = 1.4241; less 0.87945 = 0.54465 tCO2e. €41.04 (Q1), €41.00 (Q2).
• China: 2.850 × 1.01 = 2.8785; less 0.87945 = 1.99905 tCO2e. €150.65 (Q1), €150.49 (Q2).
• Other countries and territories: 2.720 × 1.01 = 2.7472; less 0.87945 = 1.86775 tCO2e. €140.75 (Q1), €140.60 (Q2).

Chinese urea carries almost four times the Egyptian charge. Its default is about twice as high, but the deduction is the same for both, so the part left to pay for is much larger.

Our Cost Radar prices 3102 10 19 on the same steps, at the latest published certificate price.

Set against the value at the EU border

Eurostat's trade database records what urea was worth when it crossed into the EU. The figures below are the average statistical value per tonne of 3102 10 19 imported from each country: total value divided by total tonnes. That is a statistical average, not a traded price.

• Egypt: €434.81 a tonne in the first quarter of 2026, so CBAM on default values adds 9.1 %; €621.30 in the second quarter, 6.4 %.
• Algeria: €430.73 in the first quarter, 9.5 %; €600.94 in the second, 6.8 %.

Source: Eurostat Comext (DS-045409), extra-EU imports, excluding imports declared in Austria; 2026 months are provisional. China shipped too little urea to the EU in 2026 (about 1,100 tonnes from January to July) for an average to mean much.

The shares move with the price of urea, because the CBAM charge on default values barely moves within a year. In 2025, Egypt supplied 43 % of the urea the EU imported from outside the EU (2.8 of 6.5 million tonnes), Algeria 15 % and China 1 % (Comext, excluding imports declared in Austria).

What these figures do not tell you

• They are default-value figures. If your supplier provides verified actual emissions, you declare those instead, with no mark-up, and the deduction is worked out from the actual-data benchmark (IR (EU) 2025/2620, Annex, Equations 2 to 4). For a plant that emits less than the default, the charge falls.
• They are rates per tonne, not a bill. The authorised CBAM declarant surrenders certificates through the CBAM registry by 30 September, for the emissions in its annual CBAM declaration (Articles 6 and 22 of Regulation (EU) 2023/956).
• An importer whose imports of CBAM goods do not exceed 50 tonnes of net mass in a year, across all CN codes, is exempt (Article 2a and Annex VII, point 1). A bulk urea cargo is well over that.

To run the same steps on your own tonnage and origin, use our sector calculator.