Acron Group’s Output Up 7% in 2020

‘Despite the pandemic, Acron Group set a new record in 2020, ramping up its commercial output 7% to almost 8 million tonnes, which is fully in line with the plan we presented a year ago. This was made possible by government action in the majority of countries to ensure uninterrupted supply of mineral fertilisers to farmers, as well as by the responsible and coordinated coronavirus response mounted by the Group’s employees.

‘In 2020, Acron Group also successfully completed three investment projects: the construction of a new 135,000-tpa nitric acid unit, the construction of a 700,000-tpa urea granulation unit, and upgrades to the Ammonia-4 unit, bringing its capacity to 900,000 tpa. The Urea-6+ project, which is currently underway and scheduled for completion in Q2 2021, will increase the unit’s capacity by 520,000 tpa. We are confident that Acron Group’s output will continue to grow. Our plan is to produce 8.4 million tonnes of commercial products in 2021’.

Performance Analysis

In 2020, Acron Group’s total commercial output was up 7% to 7,976,000 tonnes. This increase was mainly due to upgrades to the ammonia unit at Dorogobuzh in late 2019, which expanded the unit’s capacity and contributed to the increased output of all ammonia-based products.

The Group’s mineral fertiliser output was up 6% to 6,448,000 tonnes last year. Industrial product output increased 15% to 1,245,000 tonnes due to the Group’s success in promoting industrial-grade ammonium nitrate in international markets. Output of industrial-grade ammonium nitrate was up 68% to 318,000 tonnes.

In 2020, the Group’s ammonia output was up 6% to 2,729,000 tonnes, and the volume of ammonia processed through to end products increased to 96% from 89%. Upgrades to the Ammonia-4 unit in Veliky Novgorod, successfully completed in Q4 2020, increased the unit’s capacity by 70,000 tpa and provided an opportunity to further expand output of ammonia-based products.

Output of Acron Group’s agricultural-grade ammonium nitrate was up 25% in 2020 to 2,430,000 tonnes. Agricultural-grade urea output was 1,180,000 tonnes, including 261,000 tonnes of granulated urea, a new product that the Group started producing last year following the launch of the urea granulation unit. Because of the weak UAN price environment, we cut UAN output 37% to 1,096,000 tonnes.

The Group’s output of complex fertilisers was up 17% to 2,372,000 tonnes, backed by both strong demand and an increase in production of phosphate feedstock — apatite concentrate — at the Oleniy Ruchey mine. In the reporting period, apatite concentrate output was up 9% to 1,182,000 tonnes.

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