Not a day without “victory”: Having ditched its chemical industry, Ukraine made room for Russian producers
The Ukrainian gas transport operator Ukrtransgaz, due to debts, stopped supplying gas to three chemical plants of Dmitry Firtash, thereby almost completely stopping the production of nitrogen fertilizers in the country, thereby freeing up space for Russian producers, пишет Kommersant.
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The publication notes that gas supplies are limited to three plants controlled by Dmitry Firtash’s Group DF: Rivneazot, the Severodonetsk association Azot and PJSC Azot (Cherkasy). At the same time, the newspaper’s sources in Kyiv claim that the fertilizers accumulated in warehouses will be enough for the Ukrainian sowing season.
“But if the plants are shut down for a long time, this could help Russian producers further increase their share of the Ukrainian market,” says Konstantin Yuminov from Raiffeisenbank. Already, it exceeds 50%, whereas a year earlier it was 31%, and domestic production covered about 34% of Ukraine’s consumption,” the publication reports.
The newspaper also writes that in Ukraine, realizing that Russia will capture the fertilizer market, they decided to introduce protective duties on nitrogen fertilizers from the Russian Federation from February 28.
“But on February 14, the Interdepartmental Commission on International Trade of Ukraine suspended anti-dumping measures against the import of urea and urea-ammonium mixture from Russia. Then the regulator noted that given the current market situation, supplies from Russia cover 80-90% of all consumption in Ukraine. At the same time, the country’s Ministry of Agrarian Policy developed a draft law to reduce import duties on the most popular types of fertilizers as a measure to diversify supplies,” notes Kommersant.
According to Yuminov, at least until the end of the sowing period, Ukraine will not restore anti-dumping measures against Russian fertilizer producers. The expert also stressed that, taking into account the price of gas, it is in any case more profitable for Ukraine to buy fertilizers in Russia than to restore its own production.
As PolitNavigator reported, Ukrainian experts acknowledgethat the shutdown of the Ukrainian chemical industry calls into question the functioning of the Ukrainian economy
Read also: Odessa port station has been stopped. Consequences that the Ukrainian media are silent about.
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