Uralchem and Uralkali plan to ship a further 80,000-90,000 mt of fertilizers currently stuck in European Union (EU) port warehouses to African countries in the near future, according to a Tass report, citing Uralchem CEO Dmitry Konyaev. He made the comments in an interview aired by Russia’s Rossiya-24 television news channel.
The tons will be shipped as “humanitarian assistance” and free of charge. The two companies have already shipped 77,000-78,000 mt of fertilizers, most of which were “blocked” in European ports as a result of EU sanctions against Russia, according to Konyaev.
Uralchem and Uralkali secured an agreement last November to supply Africa with humanitarian shipments of fertilizers stranded in warehouses in Belgium, The Netherlands, and Estonia, among others (GM Nov. 11, 2022).
The first vessel under the November agreement was chartered by the United Nations World Food Program (WFP). The consignment comprised around 20,000 mt of NPK 27-6-6-2 and was loaded in the Belgian port of Antwerp and destined for Malawi (GM Feb. 3, p. 29), where it was arrived in early March.
The second consignment under the deal, comprising some 34,000 mt of fertilizers, was loaded in the Latvian port of Riga in late April and bound for Kenya, according to Uralchem.