Page 205 - RusRPTMay21

was driven by both high seasonal demand for fertilizers and a large volume of carry-over sales at the end of December 2020.
Phosagro began commercial production of ammophos at Volkov plant.
Interfax reported. Capacity at the project’s first stage is c300kt of ammophos. The company is now working on the construction of two more production sites at the plant. At the final stage, a line for the production of water-soluble ammophos will be launched. In addition, a complete modernization of the production of sulfuric and phosphoric acids is being carried out at the plant. The overall project CapEx is estimated at Rb28bn ($370mn) and involves the construction of a complex for production of MAP with a capacity of 0.6mt, including 43kt of water-soluble ammophos. The project should allow the company’s production of marketable products to grow from 200kt to 880kt and the processing of apatite concentrate to increase by 1mt. The project is scheduled to reach its design capacity in 2023.
● Other
Norilsk Nickel plans to ramp up output at the Harjavalta refinery to 75kt/a of high-grade and pure nickel in 2023, and to over 100kt/a by early 2026, from the current level of 65kt/a. The plan to increase capacity is driven by growing EU demand for high-grade nickel for the production of batteries. Capex for the project is estimated at several tens of millions of dollars. Total capex for the Harjavalta project is negligible in comparison with the company’s USD 17-19bn programe for 2021-25. In our view, the expansion of Harjavalta matches Norilsk Nickel’s plans to increase nickel production 20-40kt by 2030+ from the 2020 level. Moreover, as the company plans to finish the refinery expansion by 2026, we note that it might start increasing production ahead of the previous schedule.
Norilsk Nickel Oktyabrsky mine will resume full production ahead of schedule. Norilsk Nickel reported that its Oktyabrsky mine (5mt of ore) is expected to resume production in full by the end of April (vs previous guidance of mid-May). The mine is already working at 60% capacity. Taimyrsky mine (4.3mt of ore) is still expected to restart production in early June. The company also announced that the copper circuit (4mt of ore throughput) of Norilsk Concentrator resumed operations on 15 March after being suspended for inspection and repairs. The disseminated circuit (and with it the entire concentrator) is expected to return to full capacity by October. Nornickel will announce an updated metal output guidance for FY21 once the plan to step up safety and the reliability of the Norilsk Concentrator has been finalized.
Russian aluminium producer Rusal published modest 1Q21 operating results on April 27 but the outlook for the rest of the year looks good.
Sales volumes and prices were 4-8% below VTB Capital’s
205 RUSSIA Country Report May 2021 www.intellinews.com