Russian company plans to increase fertilizer exports to Brazil

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – Russia‘s PhosAgro plans to increase its fertilizer exports to Brazil in the face of tariffs imposed by the United States and China, CEO Andrei Guriev announced.

“We are ready to study the possibility of increasing fertilizer deliveries to the Brazilian market,” the top executive said at a meeting of Russian and Brazilian businessmen, stressing that this is possible, to a large extent, because of the tariffs imposed by the United States and China on the Russian product.

Guriev also highlighted that PhosAgro supports the work for regulation and reciprocal recognition of requirements for agricultural products, fertilizers, and foodstuffs.

In 2021, the Russian company’s exports to Brazil exceeded 1.5 million tons, an increase of 40%.

“We plan to maintain the achieved level of dispatches and study the possibility of increasing them. The agro-industrial sector will continue to be the locomotive of the progress of trade exchange between the two countries,” Guriev qualified.

The PhosAgro group closed last year with a production of 10.5 million tons of fertilizers and a net profit of more than US$1.7 billion.

PhosAgro shares advanced 2.1% this February 16 on the Moscow Stock Exchange.

CREATION OF A CARBON EXCHANGE FOR QUOTA TRADING

Guriyev proposed to Brazilian business people to create a common carbon exchange for quota trading.

“Andrei Guriyev suggested creating a working group to discuss the methodology for calculating carbon absorption by the forests of the two countries, as well as working on the creation of a common carbon exchange for quota trading,” the council’s press service told Sputnik at the end of the businessmen’s meeting.

Guriyev noted that together, Russia and Brazil “account for a third of the world’s total forest fund” and, in this context, called the two countries “the lungs of modern industrial civilization.”

“I propose to unite the efforts of science and the business sector of the two countries and show that, despite the advanced industry, Russia and Brazil are countries with a negative carbon footprint,” he said, quoted by the press service.

He also expressed confidence that this step will be an additional competitive advantage in the face of the possible implementation of carbon regulation in the European Union and the United States.

Guriyev’s initiative was supported by Brazilian business people and will be presented to Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro during his meeting with the Russian business sector scheduled for February 16.

In addition, during the meeting, Guriyev invited Brazil’s partners to join the Green Club, a group of countries that produce agricultural products clean of harmful impurities. He expressed his confidence that this will make Brazilian agricultural products even more in demand on the world market, particularly in Russia.