Since 20th century, the production of nitrogen and fertilizer has been in a pivotal position. This is mainly because the world soil's average nitrogen fertilizer is not high, nitrogen is not easy to accumulate in the soil, and modern intensive agriculture has promoted the soil organic matter and nitrogen excessive loss, in most conditions, unit nitrogen production is higher than phosphorus, potassium nutrients.

The development of nitrogenous fertilizer industry in China was late, and in 1935 only two nitrogenous fertilizer plants were built in Dalian and Nanjing to produce ammonium sulfate.