Norway says Europe is dependent on Russian fertilizers
Europe is unintentionally becoming dependent on Russian fertilizer imports, Svein Tore Holsäther, CEO of Norwegian chemicals company Yara International, one of the world's largest suppliers of mineral fertilizers, said in an interview with the Financial Times.
Holsethär notes that nitrogen fertilizers, which are crucial for crop growth, are produced using natural gas and Russia is increasingly exporting them to Europe.
“Europe is unintentionally becoming dependent on Russian fertilizers, as happened in the case of gas,” the newspaper quoted the company's head as saying.
“Fertilizers are the new gas,” adds Holsethär.
The publication notes, citing Eurostat data, that in the year ending June 2023, the EU doubled its imports of the most popular nitrogen fertilizer, urea, from Russia. This season, imports from the Russian Federation were lower but still at a historic high and accounted for a third of total urea imports.
