OREANDA-NEWS. Belarus’ chemical company OJSC Grodno Azot reported a 16.1% rise in exports in January-April 2013 to the tune of USD 187.553 million, a company representative told reporters.

The company reports a foreign trade surplus of USD 143.564 million in Jan-Apr 2013. At the same time, the company admits a USD 2.388 million deficit in foreign trade in services, which mainly has to do with the high cost of transportation of nitrogen fertilizers. Grodno Azot plans to reduce the deficit by adopting export schemes based on DAP and FCA.

Grodno Azot’s inventories accounted for 19.7% of the average monthly output in Jan-Apr 2013 at Br169.659 billion.

The company reported a sales profit market of 19.1% in Jan-Apr 2013, up 12.1 percentage points; net profit - Br352.959 billion (USD 40.057 million) vs Br97.924 billion in Jan-Apr 2012.

Grodno Azot was set up in 1963 and transformed into an open joint-stock company in 2002. The Belarusian government holds a 99.97% stake. The annual capacity is estimated at 305,000 tonnes of sulphuric acid, 645,700 tonnes of nitrogen fertilizers, 111,200 tonnes of caprolactam and 55,400 tonnes of methanol.

Grodno Azot is the main producer of liquid ammonia, nitrogen fertilizers, methanol, caprolactam, biodiesel fuel.