OREANDA-NEWS  In the first five months of the year, the output of ammonium nitrate in Russia decreased by nine percent, to 4.7 million tons. Vedomosti writes about this with reference to Rosstat data.

Separately, in May, production fell by 14 percent year—on-year and by 11 percent month-on-month, to 786.1 thousand tons. This indicator has become the lowest since the beginning of the year.

Ammonium nitrate is a nitrogen fertilizer, but it is also used in the chemical industry, including as a raw material for explosives.

The current output level is sufficient to meet domestic demand, as a third of the volume was exported last year. At the same time, a two percent drop in output was observed in 2025.

Viktor Kutlumbetov, a consultant at the Implementation consulting company, believes that the main reason for the current decline was the unplanned repairs of enterprises affected by the drone attack. The second factor influencing the output, the expert called a 7.5 percent decrease in the output of ammonia needed in production processes.

Meanwhile, Dmitry Baranov, a leading expert at Finam Management Management Company, recalled that the ban on the export of saltpeter in order to provide Russian farmers could affect the dynamics, which forced producers to switch to other categories. In particular, they began to produce more carbamide, the sale of which abroad is not prohibited.

Maxim Bratchikov, head of the MMI fertilizer market, recalled that domestic saltpeter consumption had decreased due to limited supply. In his opinion, output will recover in the second half of the year, but it is unlikely that it will be possible to fully compensate for the lag, and by the end of the year the decrease will be about five percent.