PhosAgro Increases Mineral Fertilizer Sales to Russian Market by 14.2% to 1.9 mln Tonnes in 1H 2020

PhosAgro Increases Mineral Fertilizer Sales to Russian Market by 14.2% to 1.9 mln Tonnes in 1H 2020

Moscow - PhosAgro-Region (PhosAgro Group), Russia's largest mineral fertilizer distributor*, increased its total fertilizer sales to Russian farmers by 14.2% to 1.9 million tonnes in the first half of 2020.

Sales of fertilizers produced by PhosAgro increased by 11.2% to 1.54 million tonnes. Phosphate-based and complex fertilizers accounted for nearly 75% of this volume, and their sales increased by 11.9%. PhosAgro-Region also sold approximately 340 thousand tonnes of products from other producers.

"We supply more fertilizers to our priority Russian market than to any other country in the world. The share of domestic sales in PhosAgro's total fertilizer production volume used to stand at around 30%. This spring it reached almost 40%. Following the boom in demand for mineral fertilizers in the first quarter, one of the most active quarters in PhosAgro's history, the market resumed its natural course by the end of the first half of the year, and further dynamics will depend on actual crop yields and the global food market trends," said PhosAgro CEO Andrey Guryev.

In the first half of the year, driven by the droughty weather and water shortages in almost all of Russia's key farming regions, demand for NP 11-37 liquid complex fertilizers exceeded all expectations: PhosAgro-Region's regional companies supplied 31,000 tonnes of liquid complex fertilizers, exceeding sales volumes for the entire 2019.

In 1H 2020, PhosAgro-Region began delivering granulated ammonium sulphate (4 thousand tonnes) to the regions. This is a new nitrogen-based sulphur-containing fertilizer, production of which was launched at the Balakovo branch of PhosAgro subsidiary JSC Apatit.

There has been a notable rise in demand for PhosAgro's new plant nutritional systems, which contain essential nutrients, meso- and micro-elements in a single granule. In the first six months of 2020, sales of innovative fertilizers with micro-elements increased to 2.5% of all PhosAgro's sales in Russia. The key consumers of the new grades are found among the leading agricultural enterprises of the Kursk and Bryansk regions, as well as several other Russian agricultural holdings.

Total storage capacity in the network currently exceeds 650 thousand tonnes, and there are over 100 containers for liquid mineral fertilizers with a total capacity of 45 thousand tonnes. In February, the twenty-seventh distribution centre was launched in the Kuban region, providing accumulation, storage and delivery of mineral fertilizers to the region's farmers.

In addition to direct sales to farmers, PhosAgro has increased its sales at the St Petersburg International Mercantile Exchange (SPIMEX). According to SPIMEX, PhosAgro's share of mineral fertilizers traded on the exchange reached 75% in 1H 2020. Between January and June 2020, PhosAgro sold over 30,000 tonnes of phosphate-based and NPK fertilizers.

Through PhosAgro-Region's regional logistics infrastructure, this year's market participants were able to purchase mineral fertilizers at new supply bases in the Belgorod, Bryansk, Voronezh, Kursk, Lipetsk, Moscow, Nizhny Novgorod, Orel, Penza, Rostov, Sverdlovsk, Tambov, Primorskiy and Stavropol regions, as well as in the republics of Bashkortostan and Tatarstan.

About the Company

PhosAgro is one of the world's leading vertically integrated phosphate-based fertilizer producers in terms of production volumes of phosphate-based fertilizers and high-grade phosphate rock with a P2O5 content of 39% and higher.

The Company is the largest phosphate-based fertilizer producer in Europe (by total combined capacity for DAP/MAP/NP/NPK/NPS), the largest producer of high-grade phosphate rock with a P2O5 content of 39%, a top-three producer of MAP/DAP globally, one of the leading producers of feed phosphates (MCP) in Europe, and the only producer in Russia, and Russia's only producer of nepheline concentrate (according to the RAFP).

PhosAgro's main products include phosphate rock, over 50 grades of fertilizers, feed phosphates, ammonia, and sodium tripolyphosphate, which are used by customers in 100 countries spanning all of the world's inhabited continents. The Company's priority markets outside of Russia and the CIS are Latin America, Europe and Asia.

PhosAgro's shares are traded on the Moscow Exchange, and Global Depositary Receipts (GDRs) for shares trade on the London Stock Exchange (under the ticker PHOR). Since 1 June 2016, the Company's GDRs have been included in the MSCI Russia and MSCI Emerging Markets indexes.

More information about PhosAgro can be found on the website: www.phosagro.ru.

* by the total volume of fertilizer supplies and by the one-time fertilizer storage capacity.