PhosAgro PJSC officially launched its new production complex in Volkhov in Russia’s Leningrad region on March 5, with Russian President Vladimir Putin participating via video conferencing. The new complex has 1 million mt/y of finished fertilizer capacity, mainly for MAP and a new water-soluble ammonium phosphate product.
The project involved the modernization of an existing plant and the addition of new production facilities. The first stage of the project started production of MAP some three years ago (GM March 12, 2021).
In the course of modernizing the existing plant, PhosAgro built new facilities to produce phosphoric acid using the wet process, as well as water-soluble fertilizers. The project also included the construction of a sulfuric acid production unit and new storage facilities.
The project cost more than RUB34 billion (approximately $373 million at current exchange rates) and took four years to deliver, the Russian fertilizer group said in a March 6 statement.
With the completion of the project, PhosAgro said production of finished fertilizer at Volkhov will quadruple compared with 2019, to 1 million mt/y, while the processing of apatite concentrate will increase fivefold compared with 2019, to 1.5 million mt/y. Phosphoric acid and sulfuric acid production will also increase fivefold compared with 2019, to 0.5 million mt/y and 1.5 million mt/y, respectively.
PhosAgro is targeting to increase group-wide production to more than 11.5 million mt/y, according to an Interfax report, citing CEO Mikhail Rynikov. The group produced 11.28 million mt of agrochemicals in 2023, with fertilizer output accounting for 10.99 million mt (GM Feb. 9, p. 27).
Rynikov said PhosAgro remains committed to its strategy to develop production in the phosphate segment and that it continues to analyze new projects in the nitrogen segment.
PhosAgro in late 2021 revealed it was considering building a nitrogen fertilizer complex at Cherepovets with capacity for about 1 million mt/y of ammonia and up to 1 million mt/y of urea. The group last year said it was discussing the project with licensors in China. Rynikov last June indicated that a final investment decision on the nitrogen project could be made in the first half of 2024 (GM June 23, 2023).