PARIS — Algeria has instructed urea producers to stop exporting the fertilizer to France in an intensification of trade curbs that have followed a diplomatic rift between Algeria and its former colonial ruler, according to diplomats and industry sources.
Ties between Paris and Algiers, which have been complicated for decades, deteriorated in 2024 when French President Emmanuel Macron backed a plan for autonomy for the Western Sahara region under Moroccan sovereignty.
The two countries sought to repair relations last year, even at one point declaring that the relationship was back to normal, but ties have since soured again.
Information about a halt to urea exports emerged early last week, French fertilizer industry association Afcome and wheat growers group AGPB said, noting that could put at risk around 30% of France’s imports.
Three diplomats also said they were aware of an instruction by Algeria to suspend urea shipments to France. They were among six French and European diplomats who also said that Algiers had in late July imposed a near-blanket ban on French imports.
The diplomats requested anonymity to discuss the issue.
Any disruption to Algerian urea supplies could create fresh concerns for French farmers, who rely on nitrogen-based fertilizers to maintain crop yields and who have already faced higher costs.
The dispute could also become politically sensitive for President Emmanuel Macron’s government, which is under pressure to shield households and producers from rising costs while managing a sharp deterioration in relations with Algeria, a topic that often polarizes the French political landscape.
France experienced some of the worst unrest in years last weekend and a potential confrontation with farmers over fertilizer supplies could only add to that pressure.
Like with previous trade restrictions, including a halt to Algerian imports of French wheat since 2024, the sources said there had been no formal announcement by the Algerian government regarding either urea exports or imports of French goods.
The Algerian embassy in Paris did not immediately respond to e-mailed questions from Reuters. Algeria’s trade and foreign ministries were also not immediately available for comment on Friday, a non-working day in the country.
France’s foreign ministry said it had not received notification of such trade restrictions.
Trade matters were a competence of the European Union (EU), it said, adding: “We will, of course, remain particularly vigilant on this issue.”
Two diplomats said France’s Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot brought up the broader ban on French goods by Algeria during a monthly EU foreign ministers’ meeting.
“France referred to Algeria in the context of recently adopted trade restrictions on French imports,” according to an EU summary of an Oct. 12 meeting.
The European Commission did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Several diplomats said that Algeria had denied the curbs when asked by French representatives.
Trade between the two countries has shrunk since 2024.
Total French exports to Algeria fell about 12% to €4.2 billion in 2025, and dropped by about 12% year on year in the first eight months of 2026, French customs data shows.
France’s imports from Algeria, mostly oil and gas, declined by 18% last year to €5.1 billion and were down 11% for January-August this year.
The exact reasons for further restrictions on Algeria’s trade with France were not clear.
Several sources saw a continuation of bilateral diplomatic tensions, given that the curbs targeted France rather than the EU, with which Algeria has a trade agreement.
Algiers might see an opportunity to take a harder line ahead of next year’s presidential election in France, said Jalel Harchaoui, a contributor to Britain’s Royal United Services Institute think tank.
“The risk is a new president who opens their term with a burst of anti-Algerian demagoguery, lashing out with something spectacular just for domestic political purposes,” he said.
“Squeezing France ahead of time guards against that, since it’s always easy to ease the pressure later. It also costs nothing right now, because Macron is already a lame duck president, and a pro-Morocco, pro-UAE one at that.”
Algeria last month cut diplomatic relations with the United Arab Emirates, which has also backed Morocco over the Western Sahara.
An interruption to shipments of Algerian urea to France could add to difficulties for farmers in the EU’s biggest agricultural sector, after the Iran war disrupted fertilizer supplies from the Gulf.
A squeeze on Algerian supplies, as well as rising prices of gas, a key input for producing fertilizer, could push up costs for farmers as they start to cover requirements for next spring’s growing season, said Cedric Benoist, the AGPB’s deputy secretary general in charge of fertilizer issues.
However, it was too soon to tell if Algerian urea shipments were being impacted, Emmanuel Nizon, head of public affairs at Afcome, said, adding that flows fluctuate due to prices and other factors. — Reuters