EuroChem was allowed to completely restart its operations in Belgium

The government of Belgium has concluded that the chemical plant EuroChem Antwerpen (part of EuroChem) is not subject to sanctions imposed by the European Union authorities. Therefore it can completely restart the production of mineral fertilizers. EuroChem Antwerpen is also allowed to purchase raw materials necessary to produce mineral fertilizers and supply them.

EuroChem Antwerpen was forced to stop its operations in March this year after the European Union imposed sanctions against Andrey Melnichenko, the beneficiary of EuroChem. Due to this, the German company BASF stopped supplying raw materials (such as ammonium sulfate) to EuroChem Antwerpen, and the electricity supply was cut off as well. 400 employees of EuroChem Antwerpen were out of work.

Andrey Melnichenko, in turn, left his post as a member of the Board of Directors of EuroChem and sold the controlling stake in the company. The new beneficiary of EuroChem became his wife Alexandra Melnichenko.

“The fact that Andrey Melnichenko ceased to be EuroChem’s owner might have become the reason for the Belgian government to agree to a complete restart of EuroChem Antwerpen. Last month, it agreed only to its partial restart, when it could produce certain types of products under external supervision,” commented the information and analytical service of Fertilizer Daily.

EuroChem acquired the plant in 2012 from BASF. It can produce 1 million tons of nitrogen and 1.2 million tons of NPK fertilizers per year. 20% of this volume is consumed by Belgian agriculture.