The Russian chemical group Uralchem, which is one of the main national companies in the fertilizer sector, is building a port terminal in Taman, Crimea, dedicated to ammonia trafficking. Dmitry Mazepin, the chairman and largest shareholder of the company as well as an adviser to the Russian Union of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs (RSPP), chairs the Commission for the Production and Trade of Fertilizers, in the course of the year. of a meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin held on Wednesday at the Kremlin.

Mazepin said the company had produced 42 million tonnes of fertiliser this year, of which 12 million was earmarked for the national market. The president of Uralchem specified that the company's exports were affected by the sanctions for the war in Ukraine and currently Uralchem has 262mila tonnes of fertilizers blocked in the ports of Estonia, Latvia, Belgium and the Netherlands, and the Acron and EuroChem subsidiaries have blocked 52mila and almost 100mila tonnes respectively. Mazepin pointed out that the export blockade represents a serious problem, as well as hampered the activity of the company's port terminals in St. Petersburg, Ust-Luga and Riga.

In connection with the group's port activities, Mazepin told Putin that Uralchem had tried to sell its Riga port terminal to a Swiss trader, a sale that has been hampered by the Latvian authorities who have forced the end of the Swiss counterpart to withdraw from the agreement.

In addition to initiatives to identify alternative routes for exports, Mazepin said last year Uralchem had started a project to establish a terminal in Taman with an investment of 50 billion rubles (825 percent). millions of dollars), scaling up that the company hopes it will become operational by the end of next year. Mazepin pointed out that the new port will radically change the situation for ammonia exports from the Russian Federation, exports that are so far constrained or dependent on other nations that have the eligible port infrastructure.

While awaiting the start of the business in Taman, Mazepin has called for Putin's support for the transshipment of ammonia in the port of Odessa to be included in the deal on the so-called "grain corridor" of the agreement between Ukraine, Russia, Turkey and United Nations that allows the export of cereals through the ports of the Great Odessa.