New Agreement Preparation for Fertilizer Supply from Türkiye and Russia

Türkiye is preparing for a new agreement with Russia in order to secure the supply of fertilizer and fertilizer raw materials before the planting season.

According to Bloomberg's news, based on the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry, a memorandum of understanding regarding mineral fertilizer shipment is expected to be signed between Türkiye and Russia.

The agreement is planned to be signed by Deputy Minister of Agriculture and Forestry Ahmet Bağcı on behalf of Türkiye and Deputy Minister of Agriculture Maksim Borovoy on behalf of Russia in Moscow.

Within the scope of the agreement, it is envisaged that Turkey will be exempt from some restrictions imposed by Russia on the export of nitrogenous and phosphorus fertilizers and ammonia.

Thus, it is aimed for Turkey to have easier access to fertilizer and basic raw materials before the planting season.

Russia imposes a quota on fertilizer exports in order to protect the supply in the domestic market. The Moscow administration had previously allowed producers to export approximately 20 million tons of fertilizer for the June-November period.

It was stated that shipping problems in the Persian Gulf were effective in Turkey's search for an agreement with Russia.

The Iran war and the disruption of maritime traffic in the Strait of Hormuz negatively affected the shipment of urea and other fertilizer raw materials from the Gulf countries.

According to Bloomberg, the new agreement is expected to contribute to meeting Turkey's increasing urea needs.

Russia is one of the world's largest fertilizer producers and supplies a significant portion of the fertilizer products subject to global trade.

However, as transportation in the Black Sea became risky due to the Ukrainian war, Russia turned more towards ports in the Baltic Sea for exports. It is stated that this situation increases the cost of shipments to markets such as Türkiye.

TURKEY'S FERTILIZER DEFICIT CONTINUES

According to the news, it is stated that while annual fertilizer production in Turkey is approximately 5 million tons, domestic demand has reached approximately 7 million tons.

Although the country has an annual production capacity of over 8 million tons, foreign dependency on basic raw materials such as ammonia, phosphoric acid, phosphate rock, potassium and sulfur used in fertilizer production limits production.

For this reason, Türkiye needs imports for both direct fertilizer and raw materials used in production.

CAME AFTER THE ERDOĞAN-PUTIN MEETING

The preparation of the memorandum came about a week after the meeting between AKP's President Erdoğan and Russian President Vladimir Putin within the scope of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization Summit.

During the meeting, the two leaders discussed regional developments as well as bilateral relations.