More than 40,000 tonnes of mineral fertilizers imported to Ukraine from several countries have been blocked on the Ukrainian border, the Ukrainian Agrarian Council (UAC) has reported at a press conference at Interfax-Ukraine.
According to the council, import halts began on December 7, the volume of blocked fertilizers is 53 percent of their monthly imports to Ukraine.
According to UAC Head Andriy Dykun, imports were suspended, in particular, from Georgia, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Belarus, Bulgaria, Turkey, Poland, and Lithuania.
“The Ukrainian market for ammonium nitrate consists of 40 percent of imports. We lived out this application season (3-4 months ago) thanks to Belarus and Kazakhstan. Importers may be forced to raise the cost due to losses caused by idleness. We have not received any document that would confirm the reason for stopping imports,” Serhiy Ruban, the chairman of the Union of Agricultural Chemists of Ukraine, said.
The representative of the Embassy of Kazakhstan in Ukraine, who was present at the press conference, confirmed the delay of Kazakh mineral fertilizers from KazAzot and Kazphosphate. According to him, the total number of delayed wagons with fertilizers from Kazakhstan is about 100.
Ruban added that before introducing a ban on imports of mineral fertilizers from Russia, it was necessary to give “at least six months to redirect import flows.”
