Lifosa

History

2023: Preservation of the plant in Lithuania

In early July 2023, it became known about the decision of Eurochem to mothball the Lifosa phosphate mineral fertilizer plant in Lithuania. According to the chairman of the board of directors of the holding Samir Briho, the reason for this step was the impossibility for the enterprise "to work steadily in an environment with so many restrictions."

Brijo noted that despite the fact that the EU announced that by the beginning of July 2023 Eurochem was not under sanctions, the company continues to "face the consequences of sanctions that have seriously affected our activities in Europe." The decision followed massive supply chain disruptions and a year-long shortage of raw materials, he said.

Lifosa Plant

Sources of Kommersant familiar with the situation say that the difficulty with replacing Russian raw materials with Lifosa is that each chemical plant is configured for a certain composition of raw materials. They name South Africa as possible alternative suppliers. But, as one of the newspaper's interlocutors says, the marginality of production directly depends on the price of external raw materials, which remains expensive in key markets. But in the current situation, he believes, the search for a third-party supplier is the only option for the resumption of the plant. According to the interlocutors of the publication, Eurochem's statement on the conservation of the plant may be a lever of pressure on the Lithuanian government, especially given that the company supplies heat generated during the production of sulfuric acid for heating the city of Kedainiai.

Lifosa's production volume before the sanctions was about 3.2 million tons, of which about 1 million tons were diammonium phosphate - 1.5% of world production. The company employed 908 people, says the newspaper Verslo zinios. Earlier it was reported that the Lithuanian fertilizer plant Lifosa lost about 100 million euros in revenue due to sanctions restrictions.^[1]

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