Russian Fertiliser Companies Reap £500m Windfall from Conflict-Driven Price Surge

Russian fertiliser companies cashed in on the global disruption caused by the US-Israel-Iran conflict, earning an estimated £500 million in additional revenues during the first three months of the crisis.

The investigation by Greenpeace Unearthed found that Russian producers earned around £5 million per day from urea exports between March and May, following Iran's initial blockade of the Strait of Hormuz.

The strait is a major route for global energy and fertiliser supplies, handling around a third of global seaborne fertiliser trade and around a fifth of natural gas shipments used in the production of nitrogen fertilisers such as urea.

While producers in the Gulf were affected by disruption to the shipping route, Russian fertiliser exporters were able to continue using Baltic routes. Urea prices almost doubled between late February and late April, with the UK importing around 33,900 tonnes of Russian urea during this period, generating an estimated additional £8 million in revenues for Russian producers.

The largest share of the estimated windfall came from the United States, where Russian urea imports reached record levels during the early months of the conflict, generating an estimated £226 million in additional revenues over the three-month period.