Guides. Omar Hamdy, on the lender's side, in Cairo. Written in a personal capacity.

Last checked 2 November 2026

CBAM for Egyptian ammonia: the default figure, the cost per tonne, and why the gap never moves

Ammonia is a smaller Egyptian CBAM line than urea, but it is the one that sits inside every other nitrogen fertiliser. Egypt sold EUR 65.7m and about 147,000 tonnes of anhydrous ammonia into the EU in 2025. This page applies the CBAM hub for Egyptian exporters to ammonia sold as a product, and explains what ammonia's figure does to urea.

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At a glance

Status box (checked 2 November 2026)

What applies to ammonia now

Ammonia entering the EU since 1 January 2026 carries embedded emissions that the EU importer must cover with CBAM certificates; the first surrender, for 2026 imports, is due by 30 September 2027.
Egypt's default for anhydrous ammonia (CN 2814 10 00) is 2.050 tCO2e per tonne (Implementing Regulation (EU) 2025/2621, Annex I, as replaced by Implementing Regulation (EU) 2026/1740).
The fertiliser mark-up is 1% in 2026 and every year after.
For ammonia the CBAM benchmark is the same in both columns, 1.522, so the deduction is identical on the default and on actual data. The gap between the two depends only on your emissions.
Egypt is not exempt in law. A reported exemption to the end of 2027 (EnterpriseAM, 12 January 2026) is reported, not law.

The next three dates

Date	What happens
1 January 2027	CBAM factor falls to 95%; importers hold certificates for at least 50% of embedded emissions at the end of each quarter.
1 February 2027	Certificate sales open on the common central platform.
30 September 2027	First annual declaration and surrender, covering 2026 imports.

What counts as ammonia under CBAM

Heading 2814 is listed in Annex I of Regulation (EU) 2023/956 as a fertiliser good, whatever the ammonia is used for.

CN code	What it covers	Egypt default, total (tCO2e per tonne)	Direct / indirect	CBAM benchmark, Column B / Column A	Default for countries without their own entry
2814 10 00	Anhydrous ammonia	2.050	1.960 / 0.100	1.522 / 1.522	3.130
2814 20 00	Ammonia in aqueous solution	0.620	0.590 / 0.030	0.457 / 0.457	0.960

Sources: defaults, Implementing Regulation (EU) 2025/2621, Annex I, tables "Egypt" and "Other countries and territories", as replaced by (EU) 2026/1740, read from the Commission's Excel transcription of 6 August 2026 (the regulation is the binding text). Benchmarks, Implementing Regulation (EU) 2025/2620, Annex, Commission Excel of 6 February 2026. Direct and indirect figures may not add to the total because of rounding.

Where the country of production of ammonia used as a precursor cannot be identified, Annex IV of 2025/2621 (as replaced) applies a much higher figure: 4.360 tCO2e per tonne. For an Egyptian urea or nitrate plant that buys ammonia in, documenting where it came from is worth more than almost any other line of the file.

EU imports of ammonia from Egypt

Year	EUR million	Tonnes	Egypt's share of extra-EU anhydrous ammonia, by tonnes
2023	126.1	206,099	10.1%
2024	145.8	319,846	15.4%
2025	65.7	146,852	5.5%

All of it was anhydrous ammonia (2814 10 00); no aqueous ammonia from Egypt is recorded in these years.

Source: Eurostat Comext, dataset DS-045409, reporter EU, partners Egypt and extra-EU, imports, CN 2814 10 00 and 2814 20 00, annual, dataset version of 16 October 2026, queried 2 November 2026. Shares are my division of Egypt's tonnes by extra-EU tonnes (2,667,026 in 2025).

Egypt's ammonia sales to the EU halved in 2025 while total extra-EU purchases rose. The trade data does not say why; it does say that ammonia is a swing product for Egyptian plants, sold when it is not turned into urea at home. That matters for CBAM, because the same tonne of ammonia either goes to the EU on its own figure or travels inside urea.

The default and the mark-up, year by year

Import year	Default used, 2814 10 00 (2.050 x 1.01)	CBAM factor	Deduction (1.522 x factor)	Certificates per tonne on the default
2026	2.0705	97.5%	1.4840	0.5866
2027	2.0705	95%	1.4459	0.6246
2028	2.0705	90%	1.3698	0.7007
2030	2.0705	51.5%	0.7838	1.2867
2034	2.0705	none	0	2.0705

Sources: mark-up, Implementing Regulation (EU) 2025/2621, Annex I, opening paragraphs, as replaced by (EU) 2026/1740 ("1% for the year 2026 and onwards" for fertilisers); CBAM factor, Directive 2003/87/EC, Article 10a(1a). The cross-sectoral correction factor is taken as 1, its maximum. Egypt has no carbon price, so nothing is deducted for carbon paid at home.

For the whole flow, as an illustration. If the 146,852 tonnes of 2025 entered again in 2026, all on the Egyptian default, importers would owe about 86,100 certificates; in 2030 about 189,000; from 2034 about 304,000. This is my arithmetic on the figures above, not a forecast.

Worked example and calculator

The plant is fictional and the "actual" figure is an assumption chosen to show the arithmetic, not a benchmark for any real Egyptian plant. P is the certificate price in euros per tonne of CO2e, which you take from the Commission's "Price of CBAM certificates" page.

Inputs (illustrative): 10,000 tonnes of anhydrous ammonia, CN 2814 10 00, produced and imported in 2026. Verified actual emissions, direct plus indirect, 1.800 tCO2e per tonne (assumed).

Embedded emissions. Default: 10,000 x 2.0705 = 20,705 tCO2e. Actual: 10,000 x 1.800 = 18,000 tCO2e.
Deduction. The same on both: 10,000 x 1.522 x 0.975 = 14,839.5 tCO2e.
Certificates. Default: 20,705 minus 14,839.5 = 5,865.5. Actual: 18,000 minus 14,839.5 = 3,160.5.
Cost. Default: 5,865.5 x P. Actual: 3,160.5 x P. The gap is 2,705 x P: every EUR 1 of certificate price adds EUR 2,705 to the cost of staying on the default.

Why the gap never moves. Because the benchmark is the same in both columns and the mark-up stays at 1%, the gap per tonne is simply 2.0705 minus your verified figure, in every year from 2026 to 2034. The break-even is therefore 2.0705 tCO2e per tonne, every year: below it, actual data is cheaper; above it, the default is. What does move is the bill: certificates on the default rise from 0.59 to 2.07 per tonne as the deduction disappears.

Work it out: certificates and cost

CN line

Import year

Tonnes imported into the EU

Certificate price P, EUR per tonne of CO2eType the current figure from the Commission's page. This site states no price.

Your verified emissions, tCO2e per tonne (optional)Direct plus indirect where they count. Leave empty to see the default only.

Illustrative arithmetic on public figures, not advice for a shipment. Cross-sectoral correction factor taken as 1, its maximum; a lower factor shrinks the deduction. No carbon price paid in Egypt is deducted.

Defaults: Implementing Regulation (EU) 2025/2621 as replaced by 2026/1740. Benchmarks: 2025/2620. CBAM factor: Directive 2003/87/EC, Article 10a(1a).

The calculator runs in your browser and sends nothing. It uses the hub's formula: certificates equal embedded emissions minus the benchmark times the CBAM factor, never below zero.

What your EU importer and the verifier will ask for

The CN line (2814 10 00 or 2814 20 00), shipment by shipment, matched to the customs declaration.
Installation identity: operator, address, coordinates and main activity, the fields used to register an installation in the EU CBAM registry (Article 10 of Regulation (EU) 2023/956).
Specific embedded emissions per tonne of ammonia, direct and indirect, for the reporting period, calculated under Implementing Regulation (EU) 2025/2547. For a gas-based plant most of the direct figure comes from natural gas used as feedstock and fuel.
Electricity: the power used per tonne and the emission factor applied, because indirect emissions count for fertilisers. Default factors for indirect emissions are in Annex II of Implementing Regulation (EU) 2025/2621.
For integrated sites, the split between ammonia sold and ammonia sent to urea or nitrates, with the same emissions figure behind both. A buyer of your urea will ask for the ammonia figure too.
A verification report from an accredited verifier, if the importer is to declare on actual data (Article 8 and Annex VI).
A named contact and a date for next year's update.

In practice a verifier works from the monitoring plan, gas invoices and meter records, power records, production and dispatch records and the calculation workbook. Assemble them before you appoint one.

The lender's view

One figure serves two products. For an integrated fertiliser site, the verified ammonia figure feeds the urea figure (0.567 tonnes of ammonia per tonne of urea at the chemical ratio) and any nitrate product. A lender looking at a decarbonisation loan for the ammonia unit should therefore count the effect across every CBAM product the site sells into the EU, not only the ammonia shipped as such.

What a lender wants to see before counting a CBAM benefit:

A verified baseline per tonne of ammonia, direct and indirect. A cut in emissions at a plant that stays on defaults changes nothing on the CBAM bill.
The project's effect in tCO2e per tonne, with the method: reformer and furnace efficiency, waste heat recovery and steam system work move a gas-based plant's figure most. A project that replaces part of the gas-based hydrogen with hydrogen from electrolysis on renewable power moves it further, and should be modelled line by line.
Renewable power counted properly. Indirect emissions count for fertilisers, so renewable electricity lowers the CBAM figure, but only by the indirect share: 0.100 of Egypt's 2.050 default.
Where the tonnes go. The ammonia share sold to the EU, the share turned into urea for the EU, and who captures the saving in each contract.
The result at several certificate prices. The price moves weekly from 2027. The calculator gives the certificate count; multiply by your own range.

Next steps

Confirm the CN line and whether your EU buyer declares on the default or on actual data.
Run the calculator at three prices from the Commission's page, for 2026 and 2030.
If you also make urea, read the urea page: its break-even depends on your ammonia figure.
If you buy ammonia in, document its country of production for every batch.
Read the CBAM hub for Egyptian exporters for the rules common to every product.

Frequently asked questions

What is Egypt's CBAM default for ammonia?

2.050 tCO2e per tonne for anhydrous ammonia (2814 10 00) and 0.620 for ammonia in aqueous solution (2814 20 00), before the 1% fertiliser mark-up.

How many CBAM certificates does a tonne of Egyptian ammonia need?

On the default, about 0.59 in 2026, 0.62 in 2027, 1.29 in 2030 and 2.07 from 2034, taking the correction factor at 1. Multiply by the certificate price from the Commission's page.

When is actual data cheaper than the default for ammonia?

When your verified figure, direct plus indirect, is below 2.0705 tCO2e per tonne. Because the benchmark is the same on both bases and the mark-up stays at 1%, that line does not change from year to year.

What happens if the origin of ammonia used in urea is unknown?

The ammonia is counted at 4.360 tCO2e per tonne, the Annex IV figure for precursors of unknown origin, which raises the urea figure sharply.

Is Egyptian ammonia exempt from CBAM?

Not in law at 2 November 2026. A reported exemption to the end of 2027 appears in no legal text.

Send me what you received

If your EU buyer, a verifier or your lender has sent you a CBAM request about ammonia, send it to me in five short lines: what you received, from whom, the deadline, your sector, and what you want to know. I'll reply by email.

Send me what you received How engagements run

Guides, checks, toolkit and newsletter are free. Advisory is paid work in a personal capacity: scope agreed in writing, fee quoted after a free first call.

I don't arrange finance, introduce lenders or work on files for my employer's credit decisions. Every enquiry gets a conflicts check before any work.

Sources

All views are my own, written in a personal capacity. They do not represent my employer or any other institution. This page explains public rules; it is not legal or tax advice for a specific shipment.

Cite this guide

Hamdy, O. (2026) "CBAM for Egyptian ammonia: defaults, costs, data". omarhamdy.com, 2 November 2026. https://omarhamdy.com/guides/cbam-egypt-exporters/ammonia/