In January-February 2023, the Azot enterprise (Cherkasy), a member of the Group DF nitrogen business, produced 235,000 tons of nitrogen fertilizers, which is by 23% more than in January-February 2022.
The press service of Group DF has said this in a statement, Ukrainian News Agency reports.
According to him, in February 2023, production volumes amounted to 123,700 tons of products per month - this is the maximum indicator since the beginning of a full-scale war.
It is noted that the key product, due to which the company demonstrated an increase in production volumes in January-February 2023, was urea.
Thus, the volume of urea production for 2 months increased by 196% from 22,800 tons in 2022 to 67,400 tons.
Also, the volume of UAN (urea ammonia nitrate) production increased by almost 10% - from 50,900 to 56,200 tons.
At the same time, the production of ammonium nitrate remained at the level of 102,200 tons.
"This year, due to military risks, agrarians until the last moment delayed the decision to buy mineral fertilizers; there was a significant pent-up demand. As a result, in January-February, demand for our products increased significantly. Logically, the company increased capacity utilization to 70-75%. In March, we do not reduce the load, as agrarians continue to actively buy fertilizers. Many still have not formed reserves sufficient for the spring sowing," said Vitalii Skliarov, the company's board chairman.
Skliarov emphasized that Cherkasy Azot in March and April will continue to work at 70-80% of its capacity.
According to him, today the enterprise operates all the basic workshops for the production of fertilizers - ammonia, ammonia acid, ammonium nitrate, urea and UAN.
“The catalyst for the sharp increase in demand in 2023 was a decrease in selling prices for mineral fertilizers during the "hot" season, which was achieved thanks to a decrease in gas prices - the main raw materials for the production of fertilizers. Given the financial situation of agrarians, such a decrease was very timely. Demand growth is limited by the financial capacity of fertilizer consumers. On the one hand, the state's support for agrarians has a tangible effect, on the other hand, the access of small and medium-sized farmers to financing is still very limited," Skliarov said.
As Ukrainian News Agency earlier reported, in 2022, Ostchem enterprises reduced their production of mineral fertilizers by 66.9% to 1.754 million tons compared to 2021.
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.
Businessman Dmytro Firtash is the founder and owner of Group DF.
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