Romania’s biggest fertilizer producer, Azomureş SA, said it will resume the production of fertilizers at 50% of capacity starting in October.
The producer on Sept. 25 reported that it recently concluded contracts for the purchase of natural gas, which will allow for the restart of one of its two ammonia units and the resumption of fertilizer production at 50% of total capacity at its Târgu Mureș production site.
Azomureş said its intention is to keep producing ammonia, finished product NPK, ammonium nitrate, and CAN as long as conditions permit. The company cautioned, however, that the volatility of gas and fertilizer markets is still at historic levels so the future is uncertain.
“The purchase of natural gas was made despite the continuous challenges we see in the structure of local energy markets, as well as the additional charges that have just been announced, which will certainly increase our costs,” said Azomureş CEO Josh Zacharias.
Zacharias said the company believes ensuring fertilizer supplies for the next agricultural season (2023-2024) is “simply too important to be ignored” for the Romanian agricultural sector, “so it was time to act,” he said.
Azomureş has two ammonia units, Ammonia III and Ammonia IV, and Ammonia III will be 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.
Azomureş partially resumed production in late May/early June using imported ammonia (GM June 2, p. 27), but it is unclear how long production continued before it was halted. Ammonia production was suspended the previous summer due to soaring natural gas prices but Azomureş continued to produce fertilizers until the ammonia stock was depleted (GM June 24, 2022).
The Romanian producer’s parent company, Swiss Group Ameropa AG, in July (GM July 28, p. 28) completed the full refinancing of its main Revolving Credit Facility (RCF) in Romania for the amount of €542 million (approximately $600 million at then-current exchange rates). Ameropa said at the time the funds would be used to support the ongoing working capital needs of Ameropa-owned fertilizer companies in Romania, including Azomureş.