Russian fertz major Acron Group posts 3% hike in H1 commercial output

LONDON (ICIS)–Acron Group produced a record commercial output of 3.92m tonnes in the first six months of 2020, up 3% year on year, the Russian fertilizer major announced late on Friday.

Ammonia output increased 1% year on year to 1.37m tonnes, and ammonia processed into finished products jumped 10% from the year-ago period to a record 1.3m tonnes.

Plans to boost ammonia capacity at Acron’s Veliky Novgorod complex by 20% to 900,000 tonnes/year should be completed by the end of 2020, the firm noted.

Global urea prices “dropped as expected for the low-demand season, but found support in early June and should continue that trend in the coming months due to strong demand in India and Brazil”, Acron said.

“The [urea] market environment will further improve when demand heats up in Q4 2020 in the northern hemisphere.”

Acron Group chairman, Alexander Popov, added: “Agricultural-grade ammonium nitrate (AN) output was up 14% [year on year] to 1.23m tonnes.

“Technical-grade AN output increased 67% [year on year] to 156,000 tonnes, driven by the group’s efforts to promote this niche product.

“Urea ammonium nitrate (UAN) output was down 25% [year on year] to 648,000 tonnes, and this reflects the pricing environment, which varied by quarter.

“In May 2020, the Acron facility in Veliky Novgorod launched a new granulated urea unit, improving production chain flexibility and introducing a new product, granulated urea.

“NPK output was up 8% [year on year] to 1.14m tonnes in response to strong demand and stable supplies of phosphate feedstock – apatite concentrate – from the group’s Oleniy Ruchey mine.”