Moscow-Russian fertilizer producer UralChem OJSC on July 30 announced operating results for the first half of 2010. Total production volumes at the company’s plants in the first six months of 2010 amounted to 2.5 million mt of finished products, 13 percent higher than production levels for the same period in 2009. Production of ammonium nitrate and derivatives rose by 7 percent, ammonia by 85 percent, and phosphate fertilizers by 257 percent, the company reported. UralChem attributed the positive performance to the recovery of the global phosphate fertilizer market, growth in demand in both Russia and abroad, and the flexible production model at its plants. Both urea and compound fertilizer production levels for the first six months were down 13 percent from last year, the company said. “All of UralChem’s plants are presently running at full utilization rates,” said Dmitry Osipov, UralChem CEO. “Thanks to our flexible production model, we are able to easily adapt our production plans based on current market pricing conditions and manufacture precisely those fertilizers that are requested by our customers, thus capturing additional margin. Our goal for 2010 is to increase mineral fertilizer production volumes by 9 percent to 4.8 million tonnes. The successful operating results for the first half of 2010 show that we indeed are capable of achieving this target.” Earlier this summer, UralChem reported that first-quarter revenues increased 38.3 percent to US$325 million, while operating profit for the quarter increased to US$39 million, compared with US$7 million in the year-ago quarter. The company’s net profit for the first quarter totaled US$19 million, compared with a net loss of US$118 million in last year’s first quarter. The company’s adjusted EBITDA for the first quarter increased to US$66 million, a 38 percent increase from the US$48 million reported in the first quarter of 2009. UralChem said first-quarter exports totaled US$214 million, compared with US$167 million in the first quarter of 2009. In total volume terms, 64 percent of the company’s sales in the first quarter were outside Russia. UralChem said prices for ammonium nitrate during the quarter rose to an average of US$239/mt FOB Black Sea, a 31 percent increase from fourth-quarter 2009. Realized prices for DAP and MAP in the first quarter were up 43 percent from fourth-quarter 2009 levels, to US$455/mt FOB Baltic Sea. UralChem said total first-quarter sales volumes increased 7 from the prior year to 1.2 million mt, while phosphate fertilizer sales volumes increased by 112 percent during the period.
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