VILNIUS, August 17. /TASS/. The Lifosa fertilizer plant in the Lithuanian city of Kedainiai may have to halt production resumed on August 8 due to ammonia shortage, ex-chief executive of the plant Jonas Dastikas told reporters on Wednesday.

Lifosa is the subsidiary of the Russian fertilizer producer EuroChem and was hit by sanctions introduced against Andrey Melnichenko, ex-Board member of the company.

"If the issue with supplies of ammonia required in the process is not solved, production will have to be halted again," Dastikas said.

EuroChem has the ammonia plant located in Russia, several kilometers away from the border with Estonia, he noted. "It is impossible to get this raw material from there [due to sanctions]," Dastikas said. Purchases in Kazakhstan are not possible also because deliveries will be made in such case via the territory of Russia and Belarus. "Europe manages to circumvent sanctions, while we selflessly put the cart before the horse," the expert added.

The plant halted production in April. In early June, Lifosa resumed production with the minimal capacity after appointment of a temporary administrator supervising the international sanctions regime. On August 8, the plant started producing fertilizers and planned to operate at the level of 70% of its capacity.