The 1.1mn t/yr Garabogaz granular urea plant in Turkmenistan restarted ammonia output today, with urea production due to return later this week, following an outage since February.
The restart coincides with the sale of 1mn t of Garabogaz granular urea to a trading firm for delivery to Europe over the next 18 months, priced on formula.
Garabogaz is the largest urea plant in Central Asia and a key supplier for granular urea exports from the Black Sea, typically from Georgian ports.
The plant's outage since February has confined granular urea availability from Central Asia to product from Socar's 600,000 t/yr plant in Azerbaijan, as well as small lots from Uzbekistan, supporting prices in the region and fob levels in north Africa.
Turkmenistan's current total granular urea capacity is 2.25mn-2.3mn t/yr. Construction is understood to have started last week at the 1.155mn t/yr granular urea Turkmenbashi project, with the plant expected on line in 2029.