Page 99 - bne IntelliNews monthly country report Russia February 2024

Russia's diamond producer Alrosa fulfilled its production plan for diamond production in 2023 by 100%, extracting 34.6mn carats against 35.6mn carats in 2022, the government of the Republic of Sakha (Yakutia) reported with reference to Alrosa CEO Pavel Marinychev. "Despite the negative external background, the company 100% fulfilled the diamond production plan - 34.6mn carats. This is only slightly lower than last year’s figure (35.6mn carats)," the statement says.
9.2.12 Mines and Minerals - steel & iron
Russian metals holding Metalloinvest has invested 2bn rubles in an upgrade of the Lebedinsky GOK mining and processing plant that would expand the plant’s capacities by 250,000 tonnes of iron ore concentrate, the company said in a statement on Monday. The company invested the money in new equipment and new technological solutions at the ninth production section of the plant. “Metalloinvest continues implementation of the planned investment projects and is strengthening the position of a leading supplier of iron ore and metals products,” CEO Nazim Efendiyev said, as quoted by the company. “The increase of capacities for production of the concentrate – the basic element in the production chain – lays the basis for further development of production capacities and creates additional opportunities for a flexible reaction to the partners’ requests.”
9.2.13 Mines and Minerals - fertilisers
PhosAgro bolstered its leading position when it comes to total mineral fertilizer supplies to Russian farmers in 2023. Tentatively, supplies increased by 11% in 2023. We introduced both new products and new services to the domestic market, such as soil testing for agrochemicals. In addition, we began providing farmers with crop protection agents and domestic seeds for crop breeding from our partners.
Our preliminary data also shows that exports increased to 8.7 million tonnes, with exports of nitrogen-based mineral fertilizers growing by 6.5%; and feed phosphates, by 8.7%. Our main sales markets remain in the global South: Latin America, Asia and Africa. In addition, we redirected about 1 million tonnes of exports previously sent India and other Asian countries to Latin America during the year. This was driven by recovery in demand from Brazil and a more favourable pricing and logistics environment in Latin America as a whole. We continued to ramp up exports to Africa, exceeding 550 thousand tonnes in 2023. We also enjoyed a sharp increase, 18%, in exports to CIS countries. Friendly states accounted for nearly 75% of all exports in 2023, up from 70% in 2022.
As a result of self-imposed local sanctions, exports to countries in Northern
99 RUSSIA Country Report February 2024 www.intellinews.com