Fertilizer manufacturer EuroChem in Antwerp has received permission from administrators to partially resume production. The company was until recently co-owned by Russian oligarch Andrei Melnichenko, who is subject to EU sanctions.
The global chemical company’s bank accounts have been frozen, and the Antwerp branch has applied for protection from creditors. The partial resumption of fertilizer production will continue until a final solution is found, and may only be used to pay the salaries of the approximately 400 employees.
EuroChem produces about 2 million tons of fertilizer annually in Antwerp. EuroChem is one of the five largest fertilizer producers worldwide with a turnover of 5.48 billion euros. It has locations in Russia, Kazakhstan, Estonia, Lithuania, Germany, Belgium, Brazil, China, and the United States. It operates with more than 27,000 employees across 100 countries.
The company reported last month that Melnichenko had withdrawn as director and largest shareholder. CEO Vladimir Rashevskiy has also stepped down. Many Russian oligarchs try to circumvent EU sanctions through legal maneuvers with their companies.
Last month, the Russian Ministry of Trade and Industry recommended that the country’s fertilizer producers stop exports in response to EU sanctions. Such a 'recommendation' effectively serves as an export ban, ordered by the Kremlin. Other countries do produce and export fertilizer, but those are significantly more expensive.
Belarus — an important supplier of potassium to the European Union, South America, and the United States — has also halted fertilizer exports because it no longer has access to the (Baltic Sea) port of Klaipeda in northern neighboring Lithuania.