Russia may ask the country’s fertilizer producers to freeze their prices for two-to-three months for the main fertilizer products for the domestic spring planting season, the active phase of which will start within days, according to a Bloomberg report on March 11, citing Agriculture Minister Dmitry Patrushev. The ministry sees no shortage of fertilizers for the domestic market, however.
Fertilizer price increases are a concern for Russia’s farmers. Russia’s Federal Antimonopoly Service (FAS) last month initiated an investigation into the grounds for pricing of mineral fertilizers to the domestic market (GM March 5, p. 31; Feb. 26, p. 37). The completion of the probe is expected shortly, and FAS has said it would take “adequate response measures” if there are signs of overpricing.
Russian agricultural enterprises applied 3.1 million mt of mineral fertilizers in 2020, a 15 percent increase on the 2.7 million mt applied last year, according to an Interfax report this week, citing Russia’s Federal State Statistics Service (Rosstat). The per hectare application of fertilizer increased to 69 kg from 61 kg in 2019.
The amount of fertilizers used last year also marked the biggest volume since 1993 when 4.3 million mt of mineral fertilizers were consumed, according to the report.