EuroChem’s Lithuanian plant plans to resume work by the end of the week

The Lithuanian phosphate fertilizer plant Lifosa (part of EuroChem) intends to resume production by the end of this week. This was reported to BNS by the company’s press secretary, Indre Mazeikiene. According to BNS, the plant suspended operations in September.

Ms Mazeikiene said the exact date Lifosa will reopen will depend on the weather. “Everything is going according to plan, little by little we invite employees to work after the downtime and are preparing to start production this week. …Let’s evaluate the weather conditions, the date may be slightly adjusted due to difficult weather conditions, but in any case (planned.— “b”) by the end of the week,” the spokeswoman said (quote from Interfax).

According to the agency, now 21% of the plant’s workers are idle, 8% are sick or on vacation, and 71% of employees are engaged in auxiliary work. “Now production was not carried out, but various cleaning and repair works were carried out. There are works that can be done while production is not being carried out,” said Ms. Mazeikiene.

On March 9, the European Union imposed sanctions against the beneficiary of EuroChem, Russian billionaire Andrey Melnichenko. On March 10, the company announced that Mr. Melnichenko had ceased to be its beneficiary. However, the Lithuanian factory suspended their work on 10 April.

On May 23, the Lithuanian Ministry of Finance unblocked the work of Lifosa, appointing an administrator who was supposed to ensure that the plant did not violate international sanctions. According to BNS, the plant started working only in August, but was again forced to suspend production in September due to lack of ammonia and a sharp rise in natural gas prices. In October, Andrey Savchuk, former top manager of Evrokhim, was appointed temporary administrator of the plant, the agency reports.

Erdni Kagaltynov