The only producer of chemical fertilizers in Romania and the largest consumer of natural gas, Azomureș, currently operates at 50% of its capacity amid costly and scarce gas supplies, company's officials told Profit.ro.

The shortage of gas globally, but also locally, is also felt on the Romanian Commodity Exchange (RCE), where the price of gas contracts with delivery in November and the first semester of next year soared to RON 400 (EUR 80) per MWh, a record level for the domestic market. In European markets, the price of gas reached about EUR 80 per MWh, after last year it had reached lows of EUR 8-9 per MWh.

At the European level, companies producing chemical fertilizers from countries such as Germany, Norway, France, Belgium, Italy, Croatia, Lithuania have decided to reduce production by up to 50% due to the high price of gas.

Recently, the Austrian chemical producer Borealis AG, a division of the OMV Group, the main shareholder of OMV Petrom, announced that it is reducing its ammonium production and will analyze the situation for the future "regarding its plants in Austria, France and the Netherlands.

andrei@romania-insider.com

(Photo source: Facebook/Azomures)