Ostchem factories substantially increased mineral fertilizer production in 2023

Group DF stated in a press release on Friday that its subsidiary Ostchem Holding’s Ukrainian nitrogen plants produced 2.1 million tonnes of mineral fertilizer in 2023 – which represented a 19.5% increase on the previous year’s total.

The conglomerate said that Cherkasy Azot produced 1.56 million tonnes of fertilizer, up 39.6% year on year, and Rivne Azot produced 528,000 tonnes, which was a 10.8% year-on-year decrease.

Group DF said that the main fertilizers produced by Ostchem enterprises were urea (447,100 tonnes), urea ammonium nitrate (572,700 tonnes), and ammonium nitrate (835,900 tonnes).

Ostchem’s production director, Sergei Pavlyuchuk, commented that ‘The fertilizer market is recovering, but the increased import of nitrogen fertilizers has prevented us from making full use of the factories.

‘Despite the difficulties in the agricultural sector, the forced shutdowns of factories due to the war, the stubbornly high gas prices, and abnormally high volumes of imports into Ukraine at dumping prices, Ostchem began to restore production volumes in 2023. We fully met the demand from farmers, even during peak periods.’

Pavlyuchuk added: ‘It’s no secret that we are holding talks with global players about the development of our industrial sites. Our strategic plans include the construction of new workshops and new factories. This, and investments in new, energy-efficient fertilizer production and the launch of the production of new products, such as AdBlue, industrial gases, and petrochemical products.’

Group DF said in the press release that, despite Ukrainian sanctions, ‘colossal’ flows of Russian and Belarusian fertilizer are being imported into Ukraine at dumping prices – both from former Soviet countries and EU states – and that this is having a deleterious impact on Ukrainian producers.