Nitrogenous Fertilisers in Germany – Paths of Distribution from Chile Saltpetre to Haber-Bosch-Ammonia and Cyanamide (ca 1914–1930)

Abstract

Abstract This paper focusses on nitrogenous fertilisers in Germany and how they were distributed from the First World War into the 1930s. Since the availability of the fertilisers kept changing at a fast pace in the period under discussion here, the focus lies on policies concerning the production of nitrogen and the markets for nitrogenous fertilisers. The paper discusses the impact of the development of a (nearly) entirely new domestic nitrogen industry during the First World War on the market for nitrogenous fertilisers during the war and interwar period, up until the foundation of an international nitrogen cartel in 1930.