Global fertiliser company EuroChem Group has closed a R6bn (US$94mn) export facility with the Russian Export-Import Bank (Roseximbank).

The loan agreement has a two-year limit and will finance the export of liquid ammonia from the firm’s new EuroChem Northwest plant in Kingisepp, Russia, to international customers.

According to a EuroChem statement, the export import bank, is “implementing the financing in conjunction with the Ministry of Industry and Trade of the Russian Federation”.

Meanwhile, a spokesperson for EuroChem tells GTR that this is the firm’s first transaction with Roseximbank, and that no other banks were involved in the deal.

After opening its US$1bn Northwest site in June 2019, EuroChem said that most of the ammonia produced there would be sent to its own fertiliser production plants in Belgium, Lithuania and a nearby site in Kingisepp.

Nevertheless Eurochem’s spokesperson says it sells about 25% of its ammonia to third parties, mainly in Europe.

Majority-owned by Russian industrialist Andrey Melnichenko, the Swiss-based fertiliser producer operates production facilities across Europe, Asia and the CIS region.