Data from the German statistical office revealed on Wednesday that Germany's imports of Russian fertilizers increased 3.3-fold to a record $151.3 million in the first half of 2023.

German imports of fertilizers from Russia in the first six months of 2023 were $151.3 million, up from an average of $45.5 million in the previous five years. This is the highest figure since at least 2008 when Germany began publishing data on fertilizer imports.

The previous record of $105.2 million in fertilizer imports from Russia was set in 2016, with a record high of 395,000 tonnes.

This year, Germany's purchases of Russian fertilizers increased by 2.8 times to 361,500 tonnes, marking the second-largest amount of fertilizer imports from Russia ever recorded.

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Russia has now moved from sixth to third place among Germany's largest fertilizer suppliers, both in terms of the total amount of fertilizer imported and the monetary value of the imports.

The share of fertilizer imports from Russia to Germany doubled in both monetary terms (to 14.6%) and absolute terms (to 16.5%).

Belgium and the Netherlands were the top two suppliers of fertilizers to Germany in the first six months of 2023. Belgium shipped 387,000 tonnes of fertilizers to Germany for $216 million, while the Netherlands sold 475,000 tonnes for $190 million.

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