The Ministry of Agriculture may be granted authority to regulate the circulation of mineral fertilizers, excluding their production. The draft government resolution developed by the ministry defines its functions in developing state policies and normative-legal regulation in the field of mineral fertilizer circulation. The bill was developed at the direction of Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Patrushev.
Currently, the market of mineral fertilizers is regulated by the Ministry of Industry and Trade. Expanding the powers of the Ministry of Agriculture will require strengthening certain structural units of the ministry, such as the Department of Crop Production, Mechanization, Chemization, and Plant Protection, as indicated in the explanatory note to the document. According to the draft resolution, a new department and one administration may be established in the Ministry of Agriculture.
The strengthening of the ministry's apparatus is expected to increase the availability of mineral fertilizers for agricultural producers, according to the document's authors. This should also contribute to the application of mineral fertilizers in accordance with optimal agrotechnical standards, increase exports, including opening up new markets. In addition, the Ministry of Agriculture expects the development of domestic trade in fertilizers and the establishment of direct links between suppliers and agricultural producers. It is expected that the resolution will come into force on November 1, 2024.
According to the Russian Fertilizer Producers Association (RAPU), in 2023, the production of mineral fertilizers increased by 9% to a record 59.3 million tons. In the next five years, production volume could increase to 70 million tons. Such an increase may be due to both increased domestic deliveries and exports sales. In Russia, according to the Ministry of Agriculture, the average fertilizer application rate in 2023 was 65 kg/ha, which is 5 kg/ha more than in 2022. Over five years, the application rates of mineral fertilizers have increased by 20 kg/ha. The ministry forecasts that by 2025, the application rate of fertilizers could reach 80 kg/ha.
In July, at a meeting chaired by Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Patrushev and attended by Minister of Agriculture Oksana Lut, representatives of the Ministry of Industry and Trade, producers, and industry associations, issues related to the organization of production and circulation of mineral fertilizers were discussed. According to Patrushev, the mineral fertilizer industry is self-sufficient and dynamically developing. Since fertilizers are a key component of efficient agriculture, they make a significant contribution to ensuring the country's food security, he noted.
President of RAPU Andrey Guryev, speaking at the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum in June, stated that continuous supplies of Russian mineral fertilizers to markets of friendly countries will be Russia's important contribution to their food security. Exports to Global South countries increased from 23.5 million tons in 2022 to 29.1 million tons in 2023, and Russian production accounts for 22% of the total volume of fertilizers used by farmers, according to the association's head.