Import substitution and new production became the themes of the exhibition "Chemistry - 2026"

On November 9-12, the international exhibition of chemical industry and science “Chemistry-2026” was held in Moscow. The business program included a plenary session with the participation of industry representatives and a presentation of new domestic developments. PhosAgro presented new projects in the field of chemical production and agrochemistry during the event.

The central part of the business program was the plenary session “Chemistry – energy of life: development through cooperation”. Speaking at the opening, the Minister of Industry and Trade of the Russian Federation Anton Alikhanov noted that over the decade the chemical complex has increased shipment 2.5 times, exceeding 9 trillion rubles. Today, the industry unites 26 thousand enterprises and more than 730 thousand employees, providing 1.7% of GDP and about 11% of manufacturing output.

Khimprom is a leader in supplies to foreign markets, providing a fifth of non-resource non-energy exports. Last year, sales of Russian chemical products on the world market reached more than $32 billion, of which $15.2 billion came from mineral fertilizers, Alikhanov said.

The Minister also noted qualitative changes in the industry. If earlier the basis of the chemical complex was the basic products of the first processing, now enterprises produce high-tech polymers, catalysts and materials for radio electronics. Russia has already moved from imports to exports. New investment projects are expected in the field of phosphorus chain, methanol, fluorochemistry, radio electronics and energy storage.

At the plenary session, PhosAgro CEO Alexander Gilgenberg spoke about the implementation of the company’s promising projects in the field of import substitution. One of them is the creation of serial production of domestic food phosphates within the framework of the national project “New materials and chemistry”. Hilgenberg stressed that participation in this project was a logical continuation of the company’s consistent investment policy.

We consider the development of the phosphorus and reprocessing production chain, including the launch of mass production of domestic food phosphates, as our concrete and practical contribution to the solution of national tasks on import substitution. The creation of our own production of food phosphates at our enterprise in Volkhov will replace almost all imports of food phosphates, eliminating critical import dependence, said Hilgenberg.

He also drew attention to the fact that the technology for the production of food phosphates and purified phosphoric acid was developed by the basic institute of the mineral fertilizer industry - JSC "NIUIF named after Professor Ya.V. Samoilov", part of PhosAgro. Serial production of products is planned to start in 2028. It is expected that the enterprise will annually produce 11.6 thousand tons of food phosphates and 24.4 thousand tons of phosphoric acid.

While working at the forum, Anton Alikhanov inspected the exposition of the exhibition “Chemistry-2026”. The Minister was presented with samples of domestic laboratory equipment, mineral fertilizers and developments in the field of low-tonnage chemistry. At the stand of PhosAgro, Alexander Gilgenberg showed the head of the Ministry of Industry and Trade a new line of six brands of biologized NPK fertilizers. They include useful microorganisms that help plants better absorb the elements of nutrition. Thanks to this, plants grow faster and easier to tolerate stressful situations. In addition, the yield increases, and the products contain more vitamins, trace elements and protein.

“Another promising direction is small packaging of mineral fertilizers, which is presented at the stand under the brand name “Generous”. Next year we will launch a specialized workshop in Volkhov. We believe that this is not only a production, but also a social project that will increase the availability of the most modern agrochemistry for 60 million Russian summer residents, said Alexander Gilgenberg.

As part of the exhibition “Chemistry-2026”, the General Meeting of the members of the Russian Union of Chemists was also held. PhosAgro was awarded the Order of Honor of the Chemical Complex of Russia. The industry union noted the company’s contribution to the development of the country’s chemical complex and the implementation of large-scale social projects.