Key activities in 2020

Siroj Loikov was appointed First Deputy CEO of PhosAgro. In his new position, Mr Loikov will coordinate the work of the Group’s headquarters in Moscow, its management company in Cherepovets and the Company’s production sites.

Mikhail Rybnikov was appointed executive director and will focus on the integration of production, logistics and sales, further improvement of the economic efficiency of production and supply processes and cost management.

Institutional Investor, a leading global financial publication, named PhosAgro the Most Honoured Company and recognised members of its senior management team as the best in the EMEA chemicals sector.

Apatit was awarded a prestigious prize for the Tax Project of the Year sponsored by PwC Russia and the Russian Union of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs (RSPP). The award ceremony for the 2020 Corporate Tax Awards was held as part of a RSPP congress.

For the first time in its 20-year history, PhosAgro increased its total sales of mineral fertilizers to Russian farmers to 3.5 mln tonnes. The Group remains the leader in the total volume of supplies of all types of mineral fertilizers to Russian farmers, according to the Russian Association of Fertilizer Producers.

PhosAgro was awarded the Exchange Commodity Market Leader prize as the biggest seller in the Mineral Raw Materials and Chemical Products section in 2020. Amid a nearly 10-fold upsurge in mineral fertilizer sales, PhosAgro’s sales of finished products on the SPIMEX spiked almost 20-fold to 80,000 tonnes in 2020, with the number of supply locations increasing to 87. The Company accounted for 79% of the total volume of on-exchange sales in 2020, almost doubling its share, according to SPIMEX.

PhosAgro won the Grand Prix at the Russian Business Leaders: Dynamics, Responsibility and Sustainability Awards held by the RSPP. The Grand Prix has been awarded only twice in the history of the awards, and both times it has gone to PhosAgro taking more than half of the nominations.

PhosAgro joined the Association of Economic Cooperation with African states (AECAS). The Company and AECAS agreed to work together towards strengthening Russian businesses’ foothold in Africa and implementing humanitarian and educational programmes on the continent. PhosAgro’s sales of mineral fertilizers in African countries have been on the rise, reaching almost 600 tonnes in 2020, up 30% from the previous year.

PhosAgro joined the Social Charter of the Russian Business sponsored by the Russian Union of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs (RSPP).

PhosAgro and the government of the Murmansk region signed a social and economic partnership agreement for 2020–2022 aimed at promoting sustainable social and economic development in the region, the cities of Kirovsk and Apatity as well as the Kirovsk branch of Apatit. The agreement calls for implementing joint investment projects, cultural and youth initiatives, developing social, sports and tourism infrastructure.

PhosAgro and the government of the Leningrad region signed a social and economic partnership agreement aimed at strengthening collaboration in implementing joint investment, social and charity initiatives, health, safety and environmental projects.

PhosAgro, represented by Apatit, won the Chemical Business Index Award for Best Digital Implementation as a company that successfully applies digital solutions in production, management and trading processes. Apatit submitted its robotic process automation project for competition.

Russia’s largest mineral fertilizer distribution network, PhosAgro-Region* (part of PhosAgro Group), and Exact Farming signed a cooperation agreement on the development of digital services for Russian consumers of PhosAgro’s mineral fertilizers. The companies plan to jointly develop applications for remote monitoring, evaluating and improving the performance of mineral nutrition systems based on PhosAgro products, and for developing and distributing agronomic expertise.

PhosAgro, together with the Moscow Timiryazev Agricultural Academy and Innopraktika, established an applied academy-based research educational centre to train highly qualified personnel for the agro-industrial sector. This facility is the first in a series of educational centres planned to be launched by PhosAgro and Innopraktika at leading Russian agricultural universities. The centre will run industry-specific classes and stream them for agricultural students in the regions, thus helping to roll out best practices across Russia.

PhosAgro launched its YouTube channel named PhosAgro Pro Agro. It features the Company’s agronomic service specialists and visiting experts who discuss advanced technologies and effective plant nutrition systems. Video clips will show how works are performed at PhosAgro’s field trial stations and serve as guidelines on how to grow quality crops. The YouTube channel is integrated with an online trading platform, enabling agricultural producers to place orders for fertilizers right away.

PhosAgro published its climate reporting for the second time. As a result, the Company’s CDP rating was raised from C to B- (on an A–F scale, where A is the best possible score). The improvement is associated with ongoing work on the implementation of the Company’s climate strategy, which includes development and analysis of climate scenarios, a climate risk assessment, emissions reduction targets and a low-carbon transition plan, as well as improved non-financial disclosure.

Major ESG rating provider Sustainalytics considerably improved its assessment of PhosAgro from 43.8 points to 26.9 points (medium risk). Sustainalytics rated PhosAgro’s management of ESG-related challenges as “strong”.

MSCI ESG Research upgraded PhosAgro’s sustainability rating from BB to BBB. PhosAgro’s updated rating is one of the highest awarded by the agency to a major Russian corporation.

PhosAgro Group was awarded an International Fertilizer Industry Association (IFA) 2020 gold medal for a responsible approach to production. The presentation of another IFA gold medal to PhosAgro highlights the Company’s consistent commitment to continuous improvement and application of the best solutions in terms of energy efficiency and resource conservation, occupational health and safety and environmental protection.

PhosAgro was announced as a Global Compact LEAD participant for its ongoing commitment to the United Nations Global Compact and its principles for responsible business. The Company was identified as being among the most highly-engaged participants of the world’s largest corporate sustainability initiative.

The UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and PhosAgro launched a joint Soil Doctors Programme in sustainable agriculture. The programme is aimed at developing farmers’ skills in sustainable soil management and establishing regional networks of soil laboratories in Africa, Latin America and the Middle East, with a particular focus on assessing fertilizer quality and safety. The project envisages creating soil testing kits and distributing them to 5,000 farmers in developing countries.

The Company’s project to install a station for continuous automatic air quality control in Volkhov won a prize at the 8th Awards for Russian Leaders in Corporate Philanthropy. These long-standing awards for socially responsible businesses are organised by the Donors Forum, a coalition of major grantmakers in Russia.