PhosAgro Fertilizer Sales up 11% y-o-y in 9M 2015

Commenting on the 9M 2015 operating results, PhosAgro CEO Andrey Guryev said:

“I am now confident that by the end of 2015, PhosAgro will achieve its target of increasing phosphate-based fertilizer production by around half a million tonnes through modernisation and efficiency projects alone. This proves that we made the right decision earlier this year: instead of spending money on new granulation lines, we focussed on optimising our use of current equipment. This has enabled PhosAgro to increase production volumes by 12.5% year-on-year, with no new fertilizer capacities launched.

“I also want to draw attention to the impressive upstream project that was completed earlier this year: Main Shaft #2 at our biggest underground mine. This will help to improve significantly the cost efficiency of our mining operations, which should already be reflected in PhosAgro’s results next year.

“With regards to the market, we are now approaching the low season, and DAP prices softened in September on the back of lower activity from Indian distributers after the summer application season, as well as continued economic problems in Brazil. As result, some of our industry peers have decided to shutter some production capacities.

“However, winter application season in India is approaching and the latest trade reports show significant improvements, with around 500 thousand tonnes shipped/committed in October. That makes us more confident that India will import close to 6 million tons in calendar year 2015, in line with our expectations given the developments on that local market. With further reforms in India and further deregulation of agricultural and fertilizer markets, we may even see significant additional upside going forward.”

The table below provides a breakdown of production volumes by major product for the 9M 2015:

* Excluding intra-group sales

** Excluding feed stock