Economist points to EU interest in fertilizers from Russia due to security of supply

Russia is the largest producer and supplier of fertilizers in the world. The country holds 25% of the market. Russia dominates fertilizer supplies in Europe because it trades at fair prices and is a long-standing, stable and profitable partner. This was reported to Izvestia on November 22 by Mikhail Belyaev, financial analyst, PhD in Economics.

Earlier in the day, "RIA Novosti" calculated according to Eurostat data that Russia's share in European Union (EU) fertilizer imports in September this year reached the highest since March 2022 at 32.1%. The country maintained its status as the EU's largest fertilizer supplier in early autumn, gaining 2.9 percentage points in share over the month.

"The advantage of Russian fertilizers is that they are just there and there are a lot of them. They are different - potash, phosphate and nitrogen. We are the largest producers and suppliers of fertilizers in the world. Approximately RF on average has about 25% of the fertilizer market. We dominate European supply for two reasons. First, Russia trades fertilizers at fair prices, but the most important thing is that these fertilizers are available," Belyaev said.

The economist pointed out that Europe has significantly reduced gas supplies from Russia, the resource has become expensive. At the same time, fertilizers are produced on its basis. According to him, Europe is barely making ends meet.

"Secondly, the EU does not have this raw material from which to produce enough fertilizers, so willy-nilly they have to buy fertilizers. They continue to buy from Russia because the country is a long-standing partner and a stable supplier, especially because Russia is territorially close to Europe, so it is profitable for European countries to buy fertilizers from it," Belyaev explained.

Russia is approached because it is the most profitable partner, the expert said. Despite the sanctions, business makes decisions in accordance with the greatest profitability and convenience of supplies.

In October, Alexander Daniltsev, director of the Trade Policy Institute at the National Research University Higher School of Economics, told Izvestia that the EU still has demand for energy and fertilizers from Russia. However, he also noted that under current conditions, it is difficult to predict changes in Russia's trade turnover with the EU, because politics can be unpredictable.