PhosAgro Increases Annual Sales to South-East Asia by 60% Over the past 5 Years

SINGAPORE, November 9, 2018 /PRNewswire/ --

Over the past five years, PhosAgro has increased its annual sales in South-East Asia by more than 60%, reaching 600,000 tonnes. This was announced by the Managing Director of PhosAgro Asia, Vladimir Kharitonov, at a gala event in Singapore on the occasion of the fifth anniversary of PhosAgro Asia, PhosAgro's first international trading company.

PhosAgro Asia is one of PhosAgro's leading regional trading companies and has been operating in Asian markets since 2013. The company covers sales to a region that accounts for about 25% of global consumption of mineral fertilizers (excluding China). More than 80% of PhosAgro Asia's sales are made to some of the largest countries in Asia: India, Vietnam, Thailand and Indonesia. PhosAgro Asia has also been expanding its client base and sales volumes in Myanmar, Malaysia, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Cambodia and the Philippines.

"The fifth anniversary of our Asian office is an important milestone for PhosAgro as a whole and for me personally. Five years ago, we revised the Group's global development and sales strategy and embarked upon a path to direct export sales by studying the needs of local farmers; we started studying the needs and traditions of agricultural producers in key markets. PhosAgro Asia became our first foreign commercial office and our first trading company. Today, thanks to the effective development of nine foreign trading companies and offices, the share of PhosAgro's global direct sales exceeds 90%," said PhosAgro CEO Andrey Guryev in his remarks.

"PhosAgro is an active participant in the global food chain-we feed people, and this is a very important mission, especially in Asia, where PhosAgro has made a huge breakthrough," said Sven Ombudstvedt, Chairman of PhosAgro's Board of Directors.

"Strategically, PhosAgro is focused on diversification of its product range. The line of products manufactured by PhosAgro has expanded to 39 grades of fertilizer over the past five years; technologies for introducing microelements and biostimulants into granules are being developed, enabling us to improve the efficiency by which plants make use of the active ingredients in fertilizers. The biggest growth can be seen in segments that allow farmers to cut costs: with stable demand for DAP-at one time PhosAgro Asia's main product-the share of NPK and NPS fertilizers in PhosAgro Asia's sales exceeded 60% this year. PhosAgro Asia has been implementing a successful transition from being a single-product trader to a supplier of a wide range of mineral fertilizers and related services. Product diversification, supported by agricultural consulting and direct interaction with end users, allows us to make long-term sales plans for South-East Asia and to increase PhosAgro's resilience to unexpected changes in global demand and to increasing demands from the point of view of the environmental safety of food," said PhosAgro's Deputy CEO for Sales and Marketing, Sergey Pronin.

Members of PhosAgro's Board of Directors also noted that PhosAgro Asia is making global agriculture more environmentally friendly. "Asia is now at peak growth, and people here need effective, environmentally friendly and sustainable agriculture, and PhosAgro is one of the best producers in terms of product quality and purity," said Xavier Rolet, a member of PhosAgro's Board of Directors. Another member of the Board of Directors, Irina Bokova, supported him: "PhosAgro is a partner of UNESCO and the FAO in projects related to green chemistry and soil quality. All of this contributes to the goal of eradicating hunger, which is at the top of the UN's 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. I think this is the surest way for private business operating in the international arena to assist the state and the UN in achieving the goals of this agenda," concluded Ms Bokova.

About PhosAgro

PhosAgro is one of the world's leading vertically integrated phosphate-based fertilizer producers in terms of production volumes of phosphate-based fertilizers and high-grade phosphate rock with a P₂O₅ content of 39% and higher.

The Company is the largest phosphate-based fertilizer producer in Europe (by total combined capacity for DAP/MAP/NP/NPK/NPS), the largest producer of high-grade phosphate rock with a P₂O₅ content of 39%, a top-three producer of MAP/DAP globally, one of the leading producers of feed phosphates (MCP) in Europe, and the only producer in Russia, and Russia's only producer of nepheline concentrate (according to the RAFP).

PhosAgro's main products include phosphate rock, 39 grades of fertilizers, feed phosphates, ammonia, and sodium tripolyphosphate, which are used by customers in 100 countries spanning all of the world's inhabited continents. The Company's priority markets outside of Russia and the CIS are Latin America, Europe and Asia.

PhosAgro's shares are traded on the Moscow Exchange, and Global Depositary Receipts (GDRs) for shares trade on the London Stock Exchange (under the ticker PHOR). Since 1 June 2016, the Company's GDRs have been included in the MSCI Russia and MSCI Emerging Markets indexes.

More information about PhosAgro can be found on the website: www.phosagro.ru.