Polish fertilizer production fell to its lowest monthly level in 10 months in April on the back of low nitrogen production, figures released by statistics office GUS show.
Nitrogen, phosphate and potash output on a nutrient basis reached a combined 181,500t in April, a decline by 4pc on the year and by 19pc on the month, according to GUS data.
Despite the weak April, overall year-to-date nutrient volumes remained 8pc up on the year at 809,000t.
In April the decline in output was mainly caused by a slump in nitrogen production, which fell by 12pc on the year and by 19pc on the month to 136,600t. Two nitrogen plants, Anwil's Wloclawek and Grupa Azoty's Tarnow plant, reported outages in April, with the Anwil outage continuing until 20 May.
Anwil's parent company Orlen said last week its expansion of Anwil's nitrogen production capacity by 40pc — about 495,000t/yr — to a total of nearly 1.5mn t/yr has not yet been commissioned, with the start of full capacity currently expected in summer this year.
Grupa Azoty, Poland's largest fertilizer manufacturer, continues to have parts of its operations affected by shutdowns, according to its Remit notices issued within the EU's market transparency regulations.
The company's NPK-specialist plant in Police in northwest Poland is undergoing a "balancing shutdown", reducing its capacity by about one third from 10 May until the end of this month. Azoty's plant in Tarnow, which has been operating at a reduced rate for several months, will fully shut its production for planned maintenance in the first three weeks of June.
And Azoty's plant I Kedzierzyn is planning a maintenance shutdown between 24 August and 18 September.
Polish fertilizer output (per nutrient) | ||||
Apr-25 | ±% April -24 | |||
Nitrogen | 137 | -12 | ||
Phosphate | 20 | -3 | ||
Potash | 25 | 73 | ||
Source: Gus |
