Azomures, which produces 50% of the fertilizers used by Romanian farmers and counts as the largest natural gas consumer in the country (10% of total consumption), has decided to reduce activity and either send home under a technical unemployment scheme or re-allocate to other companies some 200 of its 1,000 employees.

Also, it notified the companies that provide various maintenance services on the Azomures platform that their activity will be reduced by at least 30% in the coming months, with a potential direct impact on their employees, Profit.ro reported.

The company suspended ammonia production in June after just resuming the basic production of fertilizers and products for industry in April. At that time, the company said it would keep producing fertilizers until it used all inventory of ammonia (which is an intermediary product used as raw material for fertilizers).

Azomures stopped production for the first time last December because of high natural gas prices.

The company, controlled by the Swiss group Ameropa, has over 1,000 employees and reported a turnover in excess of RON 1.8 bln (EUR 3.6 bln) last year.

andrei@romania-insider.com

(Photo source: Facebook/Azomures)