MOSCOW, Aug. 8, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- PhosAgro Group
welcomes the adoption of the International Code of Conduct for the
Sustainable Use and Management of Fertilizers developed by the
UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO).
According to the FAO, the International Code of Conduct was
developed with the aim of eliminating hunger, improving food safety
and stimulating the production, distribution and use of safe
fertilizers.
It contains clear recommendations for governments throughout the
world to establish laws limiting the sale and use of fertilizers
with an excess of heavy metals or other impurities that could enter
the soil.
The Code calls on governments and fertilizer producers to ensure
that fertilizers are clearly labelled with information about
impurities (including heavy metals) and their potential impact on
the environment and human health.
The Code also draws special attention to insufficient fertilizer
application in a number of agricultural regions that leads to a
decrease in the content of necessary nutrients in the soil and
causes damage to soil health and its potential productivity. The
approval of the Code represents a new global consensus on the need
for a regulatory framework to ensure agricultural security and
promote its sustainable development, while reducing risks to human
health and negative environmental impacts and ensuring food
security.
International efforts in this field were galvanised by the
European Parliament and the European Council in May of this year
with the adoption of a historic decision on an EU-wide ban on
phosphate-based fertilizers with high levels of heavy metals
effective from 2022, and the simultaneous introduction of voluntary
green labelling for fertilizers with a cadmium content lower than
20 mg/kg of P205. A regulation limiting the cadmium content of
phosphate-based fertilizers to not more than 60 mg/kg of P205 will
enter into force throughout the entire EU – with further tightening
to 40 mg/kg possible seven years later.
At present, voluntary restrictions on the sale of fertilizers
are already in effect in 29 countries, including 21 European
states, which began unilaterally introducing strict regulations in
the 1980s. In Switzerland, for
example, the limit on cadmium was set at 21 mg/kg of P2O5 back in
1986; in Sweden, 44 mg/kg of P2O5;
in the Netherlands, 31 mg/kg of
P2O5; in Hungary and Slovakia, 20 mg/kg of P2O5; and in
Finland, 22 mg/kg of P2O5.
Irina Bokova, Chair of PhosAgro's
Committee for Sustainable Development and former UNESCO
Director-General, said: "Finding a solution to the problem of
hunger by means of safe food is one of the most pressing global
challenges that humanity must face collectively at various levels –
from fertilizer producers and scientists to state leaders. The new
EU regulations on cadmium levels and the International Code of
Conduct for the Sustainable Use and Management of Fertilizers prove
that this has gained importance not just in a particular country or
region, but at the global level of the United Nations.
"PhosAgro, as a responsible producer whose products are used in
more than 100 countries around the world, welcomes the approval of
the regulations and the UN Code, and for its part is doing
everything possible not only to produce fertilizers that are highly
efficient and environmentally friendly, and that meet the most
stringent safety standards for human health and the environment,
but also to ensure continuous efforts to produce more advanced,
high-quality product that meets the strictest requirements and
facilitates crop cultivation. PhosAgro and FAO goals in this area
fully coincide. We both aim to ensure food security and guarantee
access to high-quality food. Without high-quality, safe and regular
nutrition, it is impossible to achieve UN Sustainable Development
Goal 3 – healthy lives and wellbeing for all, since life begins
with nutrition."
PhosAgro CEO Andrey Guryev said:
"Sustainable development is a cornerstone of the Company's strategy
to 2025 approved by the Board of Directors this March. This also
implies PhosAgro's contribution to solving global issues such as
food security and improving global human health. However, global
problems require unified regulations and terms for all participants
in the food chain. The Company therefore welcomes the publication
of the new EU regulations and the UN Code, which create positive
long-term effects for the sustainability of agriculture and food
producers around the world. Safe fertilizers with no harmful
impurities, primarily heavy metals, guarantees the health of our
soils in the long term - and therefore the health of plants,
animals and humans as its end user.
"Fertilizers produced from pure phosphate rock by PhosAgro
naturally meet the most stringent limits under the green labelling
initiative introduced by the new EU regulations, and we are pleased
that our customers will soon be able to make more informed choices
about their crop nutrients.
"We believe that widespread dissemination and implementation of
the Code's guidelines will facilitate a unified approach and
provide insights to help solve global challenges related to food
security, environmental pollution and ensuring sustainable
agricultural development."
About the Company
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.
For further information please contact:
PhosAgro
Andrey Serov
Head of Investor Relations Department
+7-495-232-9689 ext 2183
ir@phosagro.ru
Timur Belov, Press Officer
+7-495-232-9689
EM
Sam VanDerlip
vanderlip@em-comms.com
+44-7554-993-032
+7-499-918-3134
Dmitriy Zhadan
zhadan@em-comms.com
+7-495-363-2849
+7-916-770-89-09
