Moscow — PhosAgro Group increased its production of agrochemical products to a record 11.3 million tonnes in 2023, the Company’s CEO, Mikhail Rybnikov, announced at a meeting of the Company’s Management Board.
Increased production and productivity were one of the critical factors in the decision to index the wages of all PhosAgro Group employees from 1 February 2024 by a further 15%, in addition to the 60% increase in average wages from 2021 through 2023.
FY 2023 highlights
In FY 2023, mineral fertilizer production increased by 2.1% year-on-year to 11 million tonnes, with the production of other agrochemicals amounting to about 0.3 million tonnes.
This growth was driven primarily by an 8.4% increase in DAP/MAP production to more than 4.5 million tonnes, a 4.4% increase in ammonium nitrate production to 723 thousand tonnes and a 1.6% increase in urea production to 1.7 million tonnes.
The production of key feedstocks rose 2.1% year-on-year in FY 2023, thanks mainly to a 4.6% increase in the production of phosphoric acid and a 2.5% increase in the production sulphuric acid.
PhosAgro Group production volumes:
|
Production volumes by category |
|||
|---|---|---|---|
|
(kt) |
FY 2023 |
FY 2022 |
Change, % |
|
Mineral fertilizers |
|||
|
Phosphate-based fertilizers |
8,388.7 |
8,224.4 |
2.0% |
|
Nitrogen-based fertilizers |
2,605.3 |
2,546.6 |
2.3% |
|
TOTAL fertilizers |
10,994.0 |
10,771.0 |
2.1% |
|
Other products |
|||
|
STPP |
55.7 |
68.3 |
-18.4% |
|
Other |
230.3 |
233.6 |
-1.4% |
|
TOTAL other products |
286.0 |
301.9 |
-5.2% |
|
TOTAL agrochemical products |
11,280.0 |
11,072.9 |
1.9% |
|
Feedstocks |
|||
|
Ammonia |
1,982.8 |
1,985.3 |
-0.1% |
|
Phosphoric acid |
3,345.3 |
3,199.4 |
4.6% |
|
Sulphuric acid |
8,120.0 |
7,920.2 |
2.5% |
|
Ammonium sulphate |
260.2 |
322.6 |
-19.3% |
|
TOTAL feedstocks |
13,708.3 |
13,427.6 |
2.1% |
PhosAgro CEO Mikhail Rybnikov said:
"Speaking of our record-setting results from last year, I would once again like to note the efforts on the part our management and workforce to implement our long-term development strategy, which is driving increased production of both high-quality fertilizers and key feedstocks.
"We saw once again last year that organic growth is the right growth path for us. The gradual modernisation of production facilities using best available technologies, closer integration with sources of key feedstocks and a focus on sustainability enabled us to bolster our position as the largest and most reliable supplier of fertilizers in our priority Russian market and also to strengthen our competitive advantages in global mineral fertilizer markets.
"In 2023, the commercial output of our production sites reached a record 11.3 million tonnes, including the production of over 11 million tonnes of mineral fertilizers as well as feed and industrial phosphates.
"Despite the fact that our production of phosphate rock did not increase, we processed more than 9 million tonnes of it in a year for the first time.
"In 2023, we increased production of phosphate-based fertilizers by 2.0% year-on-year, with the output of our main DAP/MAP fertilizers increasing by 8.4% to a record high of over 4.5 million tonnes. I would also like to highlight the 12.9% year-on-year increase in MAP production, which was driven in part by our new production complex in Volkhov, which was built as part of our comprehensive long-term development programme.
"To drive our increased production of phosphate-based fertilizers, we increased phosphoric and sulphuric acid output while also maintaining ammonia production at a high level.
"The production of phosphoric acid, the main feedstock in the production of phosphate-based fertilizers, increased by 4.6% year-on-year in FY 2023 to more than 3.3 million tonnes. This increase was driven by earlier upgrades to production units and more efficient operation of the equipment.
“We continued producing high levels of phosphoric acid in January 2024, exceeding our target by over 2%.
“Sulphuric acid production increased by 2.5% year-on-year in FY 2023 to over 8.1 million tonnes. This increase was the result of the improved operation efficiency of the sulphuric acid production unit in Cherepovets, and the launch of a new sulphuric acid production unit in Balakovo at the end of 2023.”