Fertilizer producers from Europe are afraid of ruin due to competition with the Russian Federation
Competition from Russia has made European fertilizer producers fear bankruptcy. This is writes Financial Times.
Manufacturers from Europe were afraid that the price of fertilizers from the Russian Federation could force them to leave the EU market. “We are inundated with fertilizers from Russia, which are much cheaper than our fertilizers for the simple reason that, compared to our producers, Russians buy natural gas for pennies,” said Petr Zingr, CEO of Germany’s largest fertilizer supplier SKW Stickstoffwerke Piesteritz.
He said politicians were doing nothing about the problem, which in turn was creating the risk of a reduction in European production capacity and threatening the EU’s food security. Svein Tore Holsæter, the head of Norway’s largest agricultural fertiliser producer Yara, also warned of a possible dependence on Russian fertilisers.
The publication notes that the situation with fertilizers has become a side effect of sanctions against Russia. After the start of a special military operation in Ukraine, many European countries stopped buying Russian gas, which led to an increase in energy prices. At the same time, purchases of Russian fertilizers continued to eliminate a possible shortage. Because of this, European fertilizer producers lost the opportunity to compete with fertilizers imported from Russia.
Russia produces about a third of the urea used by the EU, according to the EU’s statistics agency Eurostat.
Related materials:
It was previously reported that importers from unfriendly countries lost $256.5 billion (almost 21 trillion rubles) in Russian goods during the two years of sanctions. At the same time, Russia redirected goods worth this amount to other states and received benefits.
#European #fertilizer #producers #began #fear #ruin #due #competition #Russia