In the first ten months of 2022, Russian fertilizer exports jumped 70% to $16.7 billion compared to the same period in 2021. This follows from the data of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations.
“Russia’s income from exports of fertilizers in 2022 increased due to rising prices for them,” writes the Financial Times.
Moscow has increased exports to countries such as India, Turkey and Vietnam. According to FAO Deputy Director of Markets and Trade Joseph Schmidhuber, it is clear that countries like India have been the biggest beneficiaries in terms of fertilizer imports.
RBC notes that world prices for fertilizers began to rise even before the hostilities in Ukraine, when Russia reduced the supply of natural gas, the main raw material for nitrogen fertilizers. Prices for potash fertilizers jumped after Western countries imposed sanctions against Belarus due to the suppression of protests in the country. The surge in gas prices since the outbreak of hostilities has led to the closure of factories in Europe, which has spurred the price of nitrogen fertilizers.
