Poland’s farmers may face problems with fertilizer purchases in the spring as foreign producers could reduce output and deliveries amid continuing high natural gas prices, Grupa Azoty’s President of the Management Board, Tomasz Hinc, warned at a sitting of Poland’s Parliamentary Committee for Agriculture early this week, according to a report by Poland’s PAP Business.
According to Hinc, foreign suppliers thus far account for some 30 percent of the supply of the Polish market.
He also told the Committee that the share of gas costs in the price of nitrogen fertilizers currently stands at over 80 percent, versus around 30 percent in early 2021.
In contrast to many other European nitrogen producers, Azoty decided not to limit its ammonia and fertilizer production in recent weeks due to Europe’s soaring natural gas prices. But Hinc said late last month (GM Oct. 29, p. 34) that Azoty does not rule out such a decision in the future if gas prices continue to rise significantly.
Azoty has made supplying the domestic market with fertilizers “a priority,” and recently decided to limit exports, with the exception of long-term contracts (GM Oct. 15, p. 28). The group is one of two key fertilizer producers in Poland.