Acron Group, Moscow, reported a 6 percent year-over-year rise in first-half production of commercial products and a 2 percent increase in fertilizer output.
Output of commercial products rose to 4.16 million mt from the year-ago 3.92 million mt, and output of fertilizers reached 3.31 million mt, up from 3.23 million mt.
Acron Group’s ammonia production increased 3 percent on the year to 1.41 million mt, and the share of ammonia processed into finished products increased to 97 percent.
The Russian group said its flexible production chain allowed it to increase output of the highest margin products during the first half of 2021, “primarily urea and complex fertilizers.” Complex fertilizers output increased 14 percent to just under 1.3 million mt.
Agricultural-grade urea output was up 15 percent to 651,000 mt, with granulated urea output increasing to 231,000 mt in the first half, compared with just 34,000 mt last year. Acron added urea granular capability to its production portfolio in May 2020, commissioning a new 700,000 mt/y urea granulation unit at the Veliky Novgorod site (GM May 22, 2020). Hitherto, the group had only produced urea that was prilled or rotoform.
Acron’s first-half output of prilled urea declined 41 percent, to 163,000 mt.
The group noted it also benefited from a favorable UAN price environment in the second quarter of 2021, and expanded its UAN output as a result.
Acron Group fertilizer output1
| Product | 1H-2021 | 1H-2020 | % change |
| Ammonia | 1,415 | 1,374 | +3 |
| Nitrogen fertilizers | 2,424 | 2,442 | (0.7) |
| Of which: | |||
| Ammonium nitrate | 1,118 | 1,227 | (9.0) |
| Agricultural-grade urea | 651 | 568 | +15 |
| UAN | 655 | 648 | +1 |
| Complex fertilizers | 1,296 | 1,140 | +14 |
| Of which: | |||
| NPK | 1,201 | 1,080 | +11 |
| Bulk blends | 95 | 60 | +57 |
| Total commercial output of fertilizers | 3,307 | 3,231 | +2 |
1 Includes in-house consumption