MOSCOW, February 6. /TASS/. PhosAgro increased its agrochemical production by 1.9% year-on-year in 2023 to a record 11.3 million tonnes, while production of mineral fertilizers increased by 2.1% year-on-year to 10.99 million tons, the company reported, citing its CEO Mikhail Rybnikov.
Production of phosphate-based fertilizers increased by 2%, to 8.4 million tonnes, production of nitrogen fertilizers grew by 2.3%, to 2.6 million tonnes. "This growth was driven primarily by an 8.4% increase in DAP/MAP production to more than 4.5 million tonnes, a 4.4% increase in ammonium nitrate production to 723 thousand tonnes and a 1.6% increase in urea production to 1.7 million tonnes," the company said in a press release.
According to the press release, in 2023, the company’s production of key feedstocks rose 2.1% year-on-year thanks mainly to a 4.6% increase in the production of phosphoric acid and a 2.5% increase in the production sulphuric acid.
"In 2023, the commercial output of our production sites reached a record 11.3 million tonnes, including the production of over 11 million tonnes of mineral fertilizers as well as feed and industrial phosphates," Rybnikov noted.
He added that sulphuric acid production increased by 2.5% year-on-year to over 8.1 million tonnes. The company attributed this increase to the improved operation efficiency of the sulphuric acid production unit in Cherepovets, and the launch of a new sulphuric acid production unit in Balakovo at the end of 2023.
"We continued producing high levels of phosphoric acid in January 2024, exceeding our target by over 2%," the company’s CEO said.
PhosAgro is Europe’s biggest and the world’s third-largest manufacturer of phosphate-based fertilizers. Members of the Guryev family are economic beneficiaries of 43.66% of the company. Evgenia Guryeva directly owns 4.82% of the shares, while another 20.6% are held by the wife of the rector of the St. Petersburg Mining University Vladimir Litvinenko - Tatyana Litvinenko, who received the stake from her husband in May 2022.