Secretary-General of the UN Conference on Trade and Development Rebeca Grynspan on Dec. 15 voiced optimism that there would be a breakthrough in negotiations to ease exports of Russian fertilizers, including ammonia.
A deal agreed this past summer between Russia and Ukraine, via the UN in Istanbul and renewed in November, opened the way for exports of Ukrainian grain via Black Sea ports blockaded by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. The agreement included a pledge to restart exports of ammonia via the TogliattiAzot-Odesa pipeline.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy has indicated that he would only back the re-opening of Russian ammonia exports in exchange for a prisoner swap, and negotiations have since focused on this.
Grynspan, who is in charge of the fertilizer aspect of the deal, said she has been focused on overcoming remaining obstacles since the renewal of the deal.
She said on Dec. 15 she was “cautiously optimistic” that we can have “important progress soon,” according to the report. But she declined to give further details on the grounds for her optimism (see Latvia News Story).
Meanwhile, Uralchem JSC’s former CEO, Russian billionaire Dmitry Mazepin, and former controlling stakeholder in LLC Uralchem Fundamental Chemical Co., has called on global commodities traders to unlock the deal to resume shipments of ammonia.
According to a report by the UK’s Financial Times, Mazepin has proposed a plan that would involve a US or non-Russian trading company “chosen from among the top three or four international traders” purchasing ammonia in Russia and transporting it across Ukraine to the port of Odesa, where it would be shipped across the Black Sea.
According to the report, Mazepin said exports could start immediately, and about 80% of the output would head to African countries.
However, market sources have voiced their concerns about the feasibility of any ammonia – or other fertilizer movements – given the continued bombing of infrastructure along the pipeline and in Odesa, as well as ongoing electricity outages.