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Arkhangelsk Starts Shipping Fertilisers to America and Africa

 

Arkhangelsk has become an alternative transshipment point for mineral fertilisers. This is vital for Russian agrochemical producers, as access to Baltic ports, through which fertilisers were previously shipped to other countries, has been closed following the introduction of restrictive measures by the European Union.

Arkhangelsk port
Credit: Gelio

It is risky to use Western ports; in early January, it became known that about 100,000 tonnes of Russian mineral fertilisers were blocked in European countries.

Moreover, the European Union may complicate the situation further, as there are proposals from Belgium's Prime Minister Alexander de Croo to include fertilisers and liquefied natural gas in the 16th package of sanctions against Russia.

The Arctic seas help to 'circumvent' the risks of sanctions: since last year, Russian agrochemicals have been first transported by railway to Arkhangelsk and only then shipped through the Arctic Ocean and the Atlantic Ocean to African and South American countries. In total, more than 400,000 tonnes of nitrogen fertilisers were delivered from the Arkhangelsk seaport areas of Ekonomiya and Bakaritsa to southern countries—approximately forty voyages were made by both Russian and foreign vessels.

The geography of importers is extensive, including Morocco, Mozambique, Nigeria, Tanzania, Peru, Colombia, and Brazil. The regional government stated that the terminals of the Arkhangelsk seaport are ready to handle more than one million tonnes of mineral fertilisers per year; this will significantly reduce the deficit in port capacity for shipping agrochemicals, which was estimated at six million tonnes annually after the sanctions were imposed.

Russia's Fertiliser Output Breaks a Record

Meanwhile, the country's output of mineral fertilisers is increasing. The Russian Association of Fertiliser Producers reported that last year Russia set a new all-time record; according to preliminary data, the industry's enterprises produced 63 million tonnes of fertilisers, with an annual growth rate of more than six per cent. As a result, Russia became the second largest producer of agrochemicals, after China and ahead of the USA, India, and Canada.

Friendly countries of Russia currently dominate the export structure of these products, accounting for 75 per cent of the total production export.

So far the Arkhangelsk Region exports agrochemical products from other regions. The domestic industry is currently underdeveloped; however, in the future, the Arkhangelsk Region plans to produce complex fertilisers from wood waste, as well as saponite.

During previous years, the role of Arkhangelsk in the structure of the Northern Sea Route (NSR) has significantly increased. For more information on the topic:

Source: RG

24.01.2025