The United States imported a record volume of Russian fertilizers –worth $944 million– between January and July this year, according to the latest data by the US statistics service.
The purchases have risen by 5% compared to the same period in 2022. However, July imports dropped threefold when compared to those in June, falling to their lowest level since August 2021.
Russia was the second largest supplier of fertilizer to the United States this year, behind only Canada, which exported $2.8 billion worth of the commodity to the US from January to July. Saudi Arabia, Israel, and Qatar make up the USA’s other top five suppliers.
Russia is the largest fertilizer producer in the world, covering roughly 15% of global consumption. Fertilizer exports from the country were not directly targeted by Western sanctions, though Moscow has successfully reoriented deliveries to Asia. The head of the Russian Fertilizer Producers Association (RAPU), Andrey Guryev, projected in May that exports of the product may reach pre-sanctions levels of some 38 million tons by the end of the year. Russia’s average annual fertilizer output amounts to roughly 55 million tons.
