PRETORIA, January 23. /TASS/. The unloading of the first batch of Russian fertilizers for Africa, which is destined for Malawi, started on Monday in the Mozambican port of Beira, a representative of the port’s administration told TASS.

"The MV Greenwich vessel docked at the terminal on January 23, and the unloading of fertilizers from its board has begun," the source said. "The work is going to take about a week," the interlocutor continued.

The cargo weighs almost 20,000 metric tons. The fertilizers belong to the Russian company Uralchem-Uralkali.

A representative of the Russian Embassy in Malawi told TASS that the first batch would arrive in the country’s capital of Lilongwe on February 5, 2023. The government of the African country plans to hold an official ceremony devoted to this event on February 8.

On November 12, 2022, Uralchem-Uralkali agreed to supply humanitarian batches of fertilizers blocked at warehouses in Belgium, the Netherlands and Estonia to Africa. The first vessel for exports was chartered by the UN’s World Food Program.

On November 29, 2022, the MV Greenwich ship under the flag of the United Kingdom owned by a Greek company left the Netherlands carrying the first batch of Russian fertilizers to Mozambique. On December 31, 2022, it dropped its anchor in the harbor of the port of Beira.