CEO warns of food security problems ahead

The head of a major fertiliser company has called on the international community, including the EU, to help ensure the “free flow” of fertilisers.

Samir Brikho was speaking at an event in Brussels to highlight major problems facing food security caused by the war in Ukraine.

Brikho said the issue not only jeopardised the viability of companies like his but also “put at risk” tens of millions of impoverished populations around the world.

Global food insecurity is a direct fall out of the ongoing war and is more likely to affect the poor, he told the conference at the Brussels Press Club on 30 August.

His comments were timely as they came on the same day as the UN-chartered vessel Brave Commander, carrying 23,000 tonnes of Ukrainian wheat, arrived in Africa.

The vessel is the first specially chartered by the UN’s World Food Programme to unblock food shipments stuck after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

In an interview with this website, Brikho, Executive Chairman and CEO of the global fertiliser producer EuroChem, explained how the war in Ukraine has left the world not only short of important grain and wheat but also fertilisers.

This, in turn, could tighten food supplies, he warned.

Disruptions of shipments due to sanctions and war has sent fertiliser prices skyrocketing. High grain prices are rising even more.

Russia and Ukraine together export about 28% of fertilisers made from nitrogen and phosphorous, as well as potassium. Some fertilisers have more than doubled in price.

Eurochem has not been sanctioned by the West but, said Brikho, the company has still suffered substantially from "fall out" from the crisis, with a 25  percent shortfall in volume.

With a total global workforce of over 27,000 the company has operations in several countries, including Lithuania and Belgium, both “badly affected” by the ripple effects of sanctions against Russia.

“We are not under sanctions but in lots of ways we are being treated as though we were,” he said. “Customers are running away from us, contractors are not dealing with us like they used to and the major banks won’t work with us.”

“Our business is, effectively, being hindered by other private businesses and also governments.”

He said one of the reasons he was attending the event, which took place in the shadow of the European Commission, was to call on the EU  and others to do more to ensure the "free flow” of fertilisers.

“I would like the EU in particular to take a lead on this,” he said.

Failure to act, he warned, meant that between 200 million to 300 million people, many impoverished, would be “at risk” of starvation due to food shortages.

“If fertiliser production continues to be hit as it is now this will result in a big reduction in food production which will inevitably hit the poorest most.”

Food prices will also continue to be hit, he predicted, because demand will increasingly outstrip supply.

The Lebanon-born CEO said he had raised these concerns with political leaders and regulators who had all been positive about the role his company plays in safeguarding food production.

“They know we should not be held hostage to politics,” he said.

“All have to better understand our position and the need to eliminate all barriers to food supplies.”

Our business is still viable but it is worth pointing out that, it accounts for 0.1 per cent of Russia’s gross domestic product so it means nothing to Russia. But it means an awful lot to us and to many others in the world, including the Global South.”

“The company has invested a lot in developing the skills of our employees and we are not going to get rid of them now because of this current crisis. But our volume is  25 per cent down – operations are at a complete standstill in Lithuania – and we cannot go on like this.”

When asked if the crisis might push the world towards other forms of fertiliser solutions, he said, “Yes, that may well happen and we have nothing against that. But that is something that is not going to happen for now. It will take years for the results of that to be seen.

He cited Sri Lanka as an example, saying “its experiment with fertilisers showed what happens when you remove fertilisers as it did."

He added, “It would be a very similar result from organic farming. Now is not the time for experiment, now is the time to help farmers produce as much food as possible.”

Brikho said, “It is our duty as a leading global fertiliser producer to keep operations running, even when under extreme pressure. That is a key message I want to convey."

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