Acron facing raw materials supply challenges?

Between January and June of the current year, Acron Group reduced the production of apatite concentrate by 22.1% to 482 thousand tons, including that for its own needs by 15.8% to 393 thousand tons. This has entailed a fall in the production of azophoska (NPK).

“The output of NPK decreased because of a temporary reduction in the supplies of phosphate raw materials for its production, apatite concentrate from the Oleniy Ruchey Mine. The decline in the output of apatite concentrate in the first 6 months of the year was temporary and was due to such factors as greater volume of overburden mining and low phosphorus content in the ore at this stage of underground mining,’ said Alexander Popov, the Chairman of Acron’s Board of Directors, in the company’s press release.

According to Popov, the output of apatite concentrate is expected to increase to a level sufficient for the full load of NPK production units in the 3rd quarter of the year.

However, if the problems at the Oleniy Ruchey Mine and the processing plant are not solved, this can lead to deterioration in production and financial performance of Acron Group.