Putin promises more efforts to unlock more Russian fertilizer exports

Image: Pixabay

President Vladimir Putin said on Wednesday that Russian authorities will work to unblock Russian fertilizers stuck in European ports and resume ammonia exports through a pipeline through Ukraine.

In a meeting with Russian businessman Dmitry Mazepin, who gave up control of fertilizer producer Uralchem-Uralkali after it was hit by EU sanctions in March, Putin said Russia was ready to increase its fertilizer exports.

“The main problem was probably the fact that a lot of fertilizers were frozen in European ports,” Mazepin said at the meeting, which was broadcast on state TV.

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There are 262,000 tonnes of Uralchem fertilizer stuck in ports in Estonia, Latvia, Belgium and the Netherlands, he said. Other producers, Acron and Eurochem, have 52,000 tonnes and almost 100,000 tonnes of their fertilizers stuck in Europe respectively.

The cargoes are being held because of EU sanctions on the former owners of the companies, including Mazepin. Uralchem said on November 12 that it had reached an agreement with the Netherlands, Estonia and Belgium to ship the fertilizer to African countries free of charge.

Putin said, however, that even these proposed donations were being blocked. He agreed to ask Russian authorities for help, saying he had been contacted by several African leaders about the issue.