MOSCOW, July 27 fertilizers to Africa this year will at least remain at the level of 2022, and in the long term, with effective demand, well-established infrastructure and logistics, it will be able to grow more dynamically, President of the Russian Association of Fertilizer Producers (RAPU) Andrey Guryev told reporters.
“The dynamics are exactly at least last year, which was a record one in terms of supplies,” he said, answering a question about the dynamics of the supply of Russian mineral fertilizers in 2023 to the African continent.
Speaking about future prospects, he noted that so far Russia supplies Africa with 1.6 million tons of mineral fertilizers, or 12% of all fertilizer imports to the region. “Accordingly, within this corridor, of course, Russia can competitively increase its market share regardless of the growth in demand from Africa itself. If there is a growing effective demand from our counterparties in any of the countries of the African region, we will no doubt be able to provide our consumers with all high-quality fertilizers «, — added Guryev.
Among the largest consumers of Russian mineral fertilizers on the African continent are South Africa, Morocco, Senegal, Tanzania, Côte d'Ivoire, Uganda, Mozambique, Kenya, Cameroon. At the same time, the head of the RAPU noted, over the past 5 years, deliveries to the region have more than doubled: from 770,000 tons in 2018 to 1.6 million tons in 2022. The most demanded among African countries are ammonium nitrate, urea, complex mineral fertilizers and ammophos. The leaders among Russian suppliers are Phosagro with a 33% share, Eurochem (25%) and Uralchem (Uralkali) (24%).
Speaking about the factors that could give impetus to the growth of deliveries to Africa, he highlighted the expansion of solvent demand, as well as the need to develop infrastructure — both port and logistics, «to transport mineral fertilizers deep into the country.» Also, according to him, it is necessary to train staff and farmers directly in agriculture.
«I think that the first real things will be done just in the creation of large hubs for mineral fertilizers, port infrastructure and logistics — not only at the entrance, but also at the exit, so that you can also export grain, providing as soon as these problems are solved, and this is definitely not a matter of a year, not two or three, but the dynamics are already visible, the growth in consumption from the region is constant… then this business will work much faster, more dynamically, we will see indeed the most powerful explosion of agriculture in all African countries,» the head of the RAPU believes.