Deal to resume Russian ammonia exports via Ukraine close – UN aid chief

LONDON (ICIS)–A deal to resume Russian ammonia exports via Ukraine is “quite close”, according to the UN’s aid chief.

Martin Griffiths, Under-Secretary-General for humanitarian affairs and emergency relief at the UN’s Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), said in an interview with news agency Reuters on 30 November the deal could come as soon as this week.

“[If] we do not do fertilizers [exports out of Russia] now, we will have a food availability problem in a year. So, it is hugely important, almost more important than grain,” said Griffiths.

“Everybody understands that the operation of the ammonia pipeline from Russia through Ukraine to the port of Odessa is well understood it can be started within a week or two.”

The UN and Turkey brokered a deal in July to resume the export of grain out of the Black Sea, which was extended in early November.

Linking parallels to the grain deal, with the resumption of ammonia exports, Griffiths described the deal as “not a solution” but as a “stop gap”.

On 25 February, Black Sea port Yuzhny (Pivdennyi), Odessa, Chernomorsk, Nikolaev, and Dneprobugsky were closed.

Since then, the global ammonia market has had to cope with the loss of more than 200,000 tonnes/month of Black Sea export material.

Buyers in north Africa, Turkey, Bulgaria, and India rely heavily on Russian material and were forced to find alternative sources of supply.

The loss of Russian tonnes and sky-rocketing gas prices saw ammonia prices across the world hit record highs.