The Russian government, as anticipated, has extended the quota for exports of mineral fertilizers to May 31, 2023, Tass reported on Dec. 21, citing the Russian Cabinet on its website.
The total volume of the export quota to be affected from Jan. 1 to May 31 will be “slightly more than 11.8 million mt.”
According to the decree, as cited by the report, the quota of 5.87 million mt is set for certain nitrogen fertilizers and 4.9 million mt for NPK fertilizers from Jan. 1 to May 31.
The quota for ammonium nitrate (AN) is set as 225,000 mt from Jan. 1 to March 31, and 828,000 mt from April 1 to May 31.
The quotas apply to fertilizer exports outside of the Eurasian Economic Union and do not apply to transit. The government said its decision is aimed at maintaining sufficient fertilizer supply on the domestic market.
Reports had been circulating last month that Russia planned to extend the export quotas through to May 31 (GM Nov. 25, p. 28).
Russia first introduced quotas for the export of nitrogen and complex fertilizers on Dec. 1, 2021 (GM Nov. 5, 2021). They were due to expire on May 31, 2022, but the government on May 31 extended the quotas (GM June 3, p. 1). The new export quotas were to be in effect between July 1 and Dec. 31, 2022. For the month of June, producers were able to export these fertilizer products without limits.
In November, Russia decided to raise export quotas for urea, AN, and UAN to the end of this year “to allow the country to maintain the volume of nitrogen fertilizer production and prevent overstocking at warehouses, but with only the tons not needed on the home market going for export,” according to the report, citing Russia’s Deputy Industry and Trade Minister Mikhail Ivanov.
Quotas were raised to the end of 2022 by 400,000 mt for urea, 200,000 mt for AN, and 150,000 mt for UAN, as per a decision by a ministry subcommittee, according to an Interfax report on Nov. 21, citing the Ministry of Industry and Trade.
The quotas, which had been set originally to run between July 1 and Dec. 31, were slightly more than 8.3 million mt for nitrogen fertilizers and 5.95 million mt for complex fertilizers.