PhosAgro, Moscow, this week reported that it increased its commercial product output last year by 5 percent to 10.2 million mt, while total fertilizer production also increased 5 percent year-over-year to 9.98 million mt, up from 9.51 million mt.
Fertilizer sales increased 5 percent to 9.95 million mt, versus 9.45 million mt in the previous year. PhosAgro cited increased production volumes and higher demand in its priority markets for the sales growth. Fourth-quarter fertilizer sales totalled 2.04 million mt, a 10 percent decrease on the same prior-year period. The group attributed this downturn to its decision to wait for further potential price increases, which resulted in a large volume of carry-over supplies at the end of December, it said.
Phosphate-based fertilizers sales decreased by 11 percent year-over-year in the fourth quarter, to 1.55 million mt. In addition to the high volume of carryover shipments at the end of 2020, PhosAgro also reduced supplies of DAP/MAP fertilizers to North America (in connection with a review of the petition Mosaic filed against suppliers of phosphate-based fertilizers from Morocco and Russia) and to Europe where price growth was lagging.
The group’s sales of phosphate-based fertilizers to North America in 2020 amounted to about 316,500 mt, down from 592,400 a year earlier, and a decrease of 47 percent year-on-year. Its fourth-quarter phosphate fertilizer sales to North America were down 85 percent year-on-year, to just 25,200 mt. PhosAgro said the flexibility of its distribution network made it possible to ship these fertilizers, without loss, to other markets, including Canada and India.
The Russian fertilizer group highlighted that its synthetic ammonium sulfate (AS) production unit in Cherepovets was ramped up to full capacity (up to 300,000 mt/y) at the beginning of 2021. It said the production increase will reduce the volume of AS purchases from external suppliers by more than half. The group uses the AS as a feedstock for the production of sulfate grades of NPK(S) fertilizers. The group’s AS production in 2020 was just 31,700 mt (compared with 2,100 in 2019).
PhosAgro fertilizer production and sales volumes (‘000 mt)
| 2020 | 2019 | % change | 4Q-2020 | 4Q-2019 | % change | |
| Fertilizer production | 9,980.2 | 9,508.6 | +5 | 2,443.0 | 2,346.5 | +4 |
| Fertilizer sales | 9,954.6 | 9,452.3 | +5 | 2,044.8 | 2,275.5 | (10) |
| Phosphate-based & MCP | ||||||
| DAP/MAP | 3,203.4 | 3,204.6 | 0 | 535.5 | 694.8 | (23) |
| NPK | 2,924.6 | 2,775.7 | +5 | 680.7 | 670.2 | +2 |
| NPS | 912.2 | 616.0 | +48 | 192.7 | 177.6 | +9 |
| APP | 200.3 | 198.4 | +1 | 52.2 | 64.9 | (20) |
| MCP | 378.6 | 377.4 | +0.3 | 83.9 | 122.9 | (32) |
| PKS | 49.8 | 82.9 | (40) | 0.3 | 8.1 | (96) |
| Total | 7,668.9 | 7,255.0 | +6 | 1,545.3 | 1,738.4 | (11) |
| Nitrogen-based fertilizers | ||||||
| Urea | 1,649.0 | 1690.9 | (3) | 341.0 | 422.0 | (19) |
| AN | 618.6 | 506.4 | +22 | 150.8 | 115.0 | +31 |
| AS | 18.1 | 0 | – | 7.7 | 0 | – |
| Total | 2,285.7 | 2,197.3 | +4 | 499.5 | 537.1 | (7) |