Europe’s Industry at Risk
Cheap Russian fertilizers are threatening to put EU producers out of business
Benefiting from low state-regulated gas prices, Russian producers are undercutting European competitors.
Currently,
%
of EU fertilizer production capacity is temporarily halted.
Russia is heavily investing in new fertilizer capacity, aiming to replace its falling gas exports with finished fertilizer exports.
In 2022, over 70% of EU fertilizer production was curtailed due to soaring energy costs. BASF permanently closed its nitrogen fertilizer plant in Ludwigshafen, which had a capacity of 600,000 tonnes per year. Russia exported nearly the same amount to Germany in 2022/23. By early 2023, capacity had fallen to 40-50%. Currently, 15-20% of EU capacity remains idled.