Ostchem enterprises up fertilizers production by 1% to 0.5 million tons in Q1
This is stated in the message of Group DF, which includes Ostchem, Ukrainian News Agency reports.
In particular, Cherkasy Azot produced 404,300 tons of mineral fertilizers, and Rivneazot produced 128,000 tons.
According to the report, the production structure remains fairly stable: ammonium nitrate remains the constant leader (246,000 tons were manufactured), UAM (urea-ammonia mixture) was in the second place (123,800 tons), and urea was the third (123,500 tons).
The production volume of lime-ammonium nitrate (LAN) amounted to 15,800 tons, ammonia - 9,080 tons.
At the same time, it is noted that in 2024, fertilizer imports significantly exceeded domestic production.
"If we compare Ostchem's production results for the 1st quarter of this year with the same period last year, when our plants produced 515,500 tons of mineral fertilizers, we will see that production growth has actually stopped. The reason: the Ukrainian market is littered with imported fertilizers. In the 1st quarter of 2024, imports amounted to 701,200 tons, by 35% exceeding domestic production. Imports continue to kill domestic production, four fertilizer producers have already been stopped - these are OPP, Dniproazot, Rivneazot and Sumykhimprom," commented Oleh Arestarkhov, head of the corporate communications department of Group DF.
At the same time, Ukrainian producers continue to lose ground on the Ukrainian market in most fertilizer segments, except for UAM.
"First of all, Ukrainian chemical plants are dramatically losing the urea market: in the 1st quarter, Ukraine produced 123,500 tons of urea, and imports amounted to 181,000 tons. 88% of all imported urea was imported from Azerbaijan and Turkmenistan - states friendly to russia. Poland is also growing its position as the strongest importer of fertilizers to Ukraine. Poland today is littered with cheap russian and belarusian fertilizers, they did not fall under EU sanctions. They redirect all excess fertilizers from the Polish market to Ukraine," Arestarkhov added.
According to him, in 2023 Poland imported 1.016 million tons of urea into its territory, of which urea from russia amounted to 34% (345,000 tons).
At the same time, in the Ukrainian market, Poland in the 1st quarter of 2024 has already become the unconditional leader among importers in such types of fertilizers as ammonium nitrate, ammonium sulfate nitrate, UAM, NPK.
"Unfortunately, according to the loud slogans of Ukrainian officials in the framework of the “Buy Ukrainian" campaign, there are still no practical steps to reduce imports and real protection of the Ukrainian fertilizer producer. We see how the Poles defiantly defend their market, we see how the import of Ukrainian grain and other agricultural products into the EU is blocked. But at the same time, we are seeing a rapid increase in imports of fertilizers and agrarian products to Ukraine. All this is happening under the silent inaction of those who are obliged to protect the interests of Ukrainian industries and care about the preservation of Ukrainian jobs. Poland demonstrates to us how to effectively protect the interests of its producers through various subsidizing tools, it easily outplays its neighbors in trade wars. The result is on the scoreboard: Poland has become the most dynamic country in the EU in terms of GDP growth. And we have a reverse picture - someone lobbies for the interests of importers and imports grow, stopping one Ukrainian plant after another, killing the jobs of Ukrainians," Arestarkhov summed up.
He stressed that on the government table are specific proposals of the Union of Chemists of Ukraine, which can protect the Ukrainian market and avoid the fall of the chemical industry in 2024.
As Ukrainian News Agency earlier reported, in 2023 Ostchem enterprises increased the production of mineral fertilizers by 19.5% to 2.1 million tons.
Ostchem Holding unites Group DF nitrogen chemistry enterprises.
Group DF is a diversified international group of companies whose business is represented in 11 countries in Europe and Asia.
The main activities of the group are nitrogen, titanium and gas businesses.
The founder and owner of Group DF is businessman Dmytro Firtash.
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4 of May 2024
