Putin’s war has caused an alarming shortage of mineral fertilizers, a threat to the food production in all of Europe. However, the solution may be found in Sweden writes the Swedish daily newspaper Svenska Dagbladet in their article published December 18, 2022. Several Swedish initiatives have been made that could make the country a new cluster for fertilizer production in Europe. In the article NitroCapt amongst others was mentioned as “an exciting startup company”.
The war has caused a crisis on the market for mineral fertilizers as Ukraine and Russia have been two of the largest European providers. The shortage of fertilizer has led prices to skyrocket and the farmers production cost to double. Furthermore, most commercial fertilizers produced today are fossil-dependent and mainly produced in areas of Central Europe. The need for Europe to become more self-sufficient and to develop more climate neutral technology has been known for quite some time, the war has accelerated this process.
“We are seeing a movement throughout the EU towards becoming self-sufficient and being able to cope with both crisis and war,” says Christina Nordin, Director General of the Swedish Board of Agriculture in the article.
For that reason, the Swedish Board of Agriculture has been commissioned to analyze how the supply of different minerals can be secured with innovative solutions. The market for nitrogen fertilization is gigantic with an estimated turnover of 80 billion euros per year. There is a large interest, many stakeholders, and huge investments in the transition to climate neutral technology. Areas of interests are countries where sustainable energy is available, such as northern Sweden with its wind- and hydropower. Several Swedish companies have already started developing techniques to manufacture fossil-free fertilizers. These companies, including NitroCapt, can be turned into leading fertilizer producers for Europe. NitroCapt sees the possibility of synergies with all initiatives.
Link to full article (in Swedish): https://www.svd.se/a/0QQ4oE/putins-krig-i-ukraina-hotar-svensk-matproduktion
