Norway claims Europe is dependent on Russian fertilizers.
Europe is inadvertently becoming dependent on Russian fertilizer imports, Svein Tore Holsäther, CEO of Norwegian chemical company Yara International, one of the world's largest suppliers of mineral fertilizers, said in an interview with the Financial Times.
Holsethär noted that nitrogen fertilizers, which are crucial for crop growth, are produced using natural gas and that Russia is increasingly exporting them to Europe.
The newspaper quoted the head of the company as saying: "Europe is inadvertently becoming dependent on Russian fertilizers, as happened in the case of natural gas."
Holsethär added: "Fertilizer is the new gas."
The publication notes, citing Eurostat data, that in the year preceding June 2023, the EU doubled its imports from Russia of the most popular nitrogen fertilizer, urea. This season, imports from the Russian Federation are lower but still at historically high levels and account for one-third of total urea imports.
