Romania’s biggest fertilizer producer, Azomureş SA, has announced a halt to ammonia and fertilizer production for December, just two months after resuming operations. The producer cited a nearly 40% rise in natural gas costs and a lack of government action, according to a report by the Romania Journal, citing a company statement.
Azomureş reported in September that it would resume fertilizer production in October after concluding contracts for the purchase of natural gas (GM Sept. 29, p. 1). The gas deal allowed for the restart of one of the company’s ammonia plants and the resumption of fertilizer production at 50% of total capacity at the Târgu Mureș production site.
In its Dec. 8 statement, Azomureş said that despite ample gas reserves in the region, the European gas market remains “significantly more expensive” than other industrialized parts of the world.
The company also blamed state authorities for natural gas policies, citing an oversupply of subsidized gas in Romania. It said despite a significant surplus of natural gas traded by Transgaz, Romania’s national gas transmission system operator, the additional gas is not made available to the market because major producers are not allowed to reallocate it to industrial customers like Azomureş.
The suspension of the company’s operations could have a negative impact on both the industry and agriculture in Romania, according to Azomureş CEO Josh Zacharias. He projected a 3% reduction in profitability for Romanian farmers due to the multiplier effect of input purchases, plus the taxed income from crop sales.
Azomureş has two ammonia units, Ammonia III and Ammonia IV, and it was Ammonia III that restarted. The company’s total production capacity is 1.6 million mt/y, with 80-85% of output typically sold to the Romanian agricultural market.