There is no shortage of mineral fertilizers in the regions and is not expected. This is stated in the message of the Russian Association of Fertilizer Producers.
“As of November 26, Russian agrarians increased their purchases of mineral fertilizers by 15%, to 4,58 million tons (in terms of 100% of the active ingredient),” the RAPU press release says. “The annual demand for mineral fertilizers of 4,52 million tons, declared by the Ministry of Agriculture of Russia in February 2021, is 100% met and currently supplies of products for the next year’s demand are already underway.”
According to RAPU experts, purchases of mineral fertilizers are stimulated by a stable price situation on the market. Taking into account sharp macroeconomic changes and volatility of foreign markets, producers of mineral fertilizers fixed prices and provided discounts to farmers in a voluntary and preventive manner in mid-July - early August.
According to the association, by October 1, all applications of agricultural producers for mineral fertilizers for autumn sowing were satisfied. At the same time, an additional demand for mineral fertilizers for spring field work arose on the domestic market: due to the continuing volatility of external markets, farmers shifted the bulk of their purchases of nitrogen fertilizers from spring to autumn. Deliveries in excess of the fulfilled demand are carried out according to the plan agreed by the Ministry of Agriculture and the Ministry of Industry and Trade of Russia.
For agrarians, an additional guarantee of the supply of fertilizers in the coming spring was the decision of the Government of the Russian Federation to temporarily, for six months, introduce quotas on the export of mineral fertilizers. The association's experts are confident that today the mineral fertilizers industry is capable of providing almost any reasonable dynamics of demand on the Russian market. Against the background of difficulties with the supply of fertilizers in many countries, in Russia in January-October, their production increased by 6,1%.
The St. Petersburg International Commodity and Raw Materials Exchange (SPIMEX) plays a significant role in providing the Russian agro-industrial complex with mineral fertilizers. As of the end of November, 989 thousand tons of mineral fertilizers were sold on the exchange floor, almost 10 times more than in the entire last year. The average monthly growth rate of the volume of transactions since the beginning of trading in December 2017 is about 120%.
As emphasized in the message, the domestic market has always been and remains a priority for Russian producers of mineral fertilizers. Over the past 7 years, the industry has invested over 1,3 trillion rubles to meet the growing needs of Russian farmers, to maintain and build up its positions in foreign markets, and about 2 trillion rubles will be invested in the next 7 years.
As a result of investment activity since 2013, by 2026 the production capacity of enterprises in the industry will practically double.