US urea imports from Russia down 42% in January-April

LONDON (ICIS)–US imports of urea from Russia were down 42% at 302,666 tonnes in January-April, according to the ICIS Supply and Demand Database.

Total US urea imports were at nearly 2.3m tonnes during the period, down 13% from over 2.6m tonnes in the same period of last year.

The decline comes despite Russian fertilizers being exempt from sanctions in the US, in contrast to Europe, which imposed sanctions on fertilizer imports after it invaded Ukraine.

Russian shipments were thin given financing issues and lack of vessel availability from Russian ports.

There are expectations of some increase in imports from Russia over the next few months as these issues are resolved.

In June, a Russian producer shipped a combination cargo of urea and urea ammonium nitrate (UAN) to the US to reduce inventory pressure, despite high freight costs and an antidumping duty on UAN.

Demand in the US has also been thin due to bad weather and delays in the spring application season.

US Urea Top Imports (tonnes) January-April 2022
Country	2021	2022	Market share (%)	Y-o-y change (%)
Qatar	538,350	448,701	20	-17
Oman	338,885	434,876	19	28
Russia	521,323	302,666	13	-42
Saudi Arabia	266,860	301,240	13	13
Algeria	330,968	219,299	10	-34
Canada	314,409	172,305	8	-45
Nigeria	–	172,233	7	–
Netherlands	37,730	73,829	3	96
Bahrain	43,999	44,000	2	–
Mexico	279	41,882	2	–
Turkmenistan		31,600	1
Word Total	2,640,990	2,298,990	–	-13

In April, urea imports were at 702,468 tonnes, down 33% from just over a million tonnes in April 2021.

Russia shipped 110,138 tonnes to the US in April, down 56% from 252,369 tonnes in April 2021.

Front page picture: Bags of granulated urea; archive image
Source: Eco Images/Uig/Shutterstock