Eurochem launched a fertilizer plant in Brazil – Kommersant
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The largest Russian producer of mineral fertilizers, Eurochem, today, March 13, commissioned a new plant for the production of phosphate fertilizers in the city of Serra do Salitre (Brazil). The plant’s capacity will be 1 million tons. Thus, according to EuroChem’s calculations, the group’s total capacity for the production of phosphate fertilizers will increase to 6 million tons per year. EuroChem estimates the volume of investments in the Brazilian project at about $1 billion.
Eurochem bought the plant, which was approximately half completed, in February 2022 from the Norwegian Yara. The asset includes an open-pit phosphate mine and a fertilizer plant. The transaction amount was $452 million, approximately the same amount needed to be invested in completing construction.
This is EuroChem’s third asset in South America. Since 2020, the group has owned the country’s largest fertilizer blending and distribution company, Fertilizantes Tocantins, and since 2022, the distributor Fertilizantes Heringer. The company is the fourth largest player in Brazil with a total installed capacity of 4 million tons of fertilizers per year.
As Eurochem CEO Oleg Shiryaev noted, South America is the group’s largest growing market, where there is high demand for its products. He recalled that the company operates on the “from mine to farm” principle, that is, it controls the entire chain – from the extraction of raw materials to the production and delivery of fertilizers to the end consumer.
Brazil is the fourth largest importer of fertilizers in the world. According to Ricardo Tortorella, executive director of the National Fertilizer Distribution Association, supplies to the region increased by 11.6% in 2023, to 45.8 million tons. Brazil’s own production was only 6.8 million tons, the rest was imported.
Independent expert Leonid Khazanov believes that the launch of a plant in Brazil will strengthen the position of Russian chemical companies in the Latin American and global mineral fertilizer markets.
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