The Russian group Uralchem-Uralkali delivered 20,000 tons of fertilizers to Malawi as a charity, RIA Novosti reports, citing information from the company’s press service.
“For Uralchem-Uralkali, this is the first humanitarian delivery to Africa from the territory of the European Union. It is part of the previously announced intention of Uralchema-Uralkali to provide free of charge about 300,000 tons of mineral fertilizers to developing countries.
The group made the delivery in conjunction with the United Nations World Food Programme, which chartered a ship to carry the fertilizer by sea. This initiative aims to combat the global food crisis.
The official handover ceremony took place on March 6 in a suburb of Malawi’s capital, Lilongwe. The event was attended by the Minister of Agriculture of the Republic Sam Dalitso Kavale, the Russian Ambassador to Zimbabwe and Malawi Nikolai Krasilnikov, as well as representatives of Uralchem-Uralkali and the UN World Food Programme.
The batch was sent from the Netherlands at the end of November, and on February 1, it was unloaded at the port of the Mozambican city of Beira. Then the fertilizers were delivered by land to their destination.
At the end of November 2022, the Uralchem group announced that more than 260 thousand tons of fertilizers were blocked in the ports of Europe, which it is ready to supply to African countries for free. Co-owner of the company Dmitry Mazepin explained that due to sanctions it was impossible to pay for the freight, but it was planned to do this with the help of the UN.
The fact that Russia is ready to transfer free of charge to the poorest countries up to 300 thousand tons of fertilizers was reported in September in an interview with RIA Novosti by UN Secretary General António Guterres. This proposal was made by President Vladimir Putin.
United Chemical Company Uralchem is one of the largest players in the mineral fertilizer market in Russia and Eastern Europe, it owns Uralkali, the world’s largest producer of potash fertilizers.
