PhosAgro Becomes the First Russian Company in the History of the FAO Selected by this UN Organisation to Implement a Global Soil Protection Initiative

ROME, December 5, 2018 /PRNewswire/ --

PhosAgro ("PhosAgro" or "the Company") (Moscow Exchange, LSE: PHOR), one of the world's leading vertically integrated phosphate-based fertilizer producers, has signed a cooperation agreement in the field of sustainable soil management with the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO).

According to the FAO, soil pollution, including through heavy metals such as cadmium, nickel and arsenic, is currently affecting food security throughout the world by limiting crop yields and decreasing product quality. A third of the soil in the world is considered to be degraded, and the area continues to expand. Experts from the FAO have called on all governments to reduce soil pollution for the sake of the planet's future security. In doing so, they claim that, given that the world's population is projected to exceed 9 billion by 2050, humanity will not be able to produce enough food to feed everyone at current rates of consumption and without healthy soils.

PhosAgro fertilizers are used in 100 countries throughout the world. The Company cannot stand idly by, and it is prepared to expedite a solution to the problem of global food security both by providing farmers around the world with high-quality phosphate-based fertilizers that are low in potentially hazardous impurities and by taking part in international initiatives to protect the environment. One of the effective ways of resolving this issue is the Company's fruitful cooperation with UNESCO, another organisation in the UN system, to promote scientific and applied research in the field of green chemistry, thus contributing to the improvement of production efficiency and preservation of the environment, with the involvement of young scientists from all around the world.

Taking part in a ceremony to sign the agreement on World Soil Day, PhosAgro Group CEO Andrey Guryev said: "Our strategy is completely consistent with the goals and objectives of the FAO in terms of ensuring global food security and eliminating hunger, and we highly value the practical results of this project.

"Taking into account the project's scale and significant potential, PhosAgro will play an important role in establishing a unified global scientific and information mechanism that promotes the advancement of technologies and knowledge in the field of sustainable land use and agriculture, thereby helping farmers, as well as anyone else involved in intensive farming practices, grow crops efficiently, while not contributing to the accumulation of pollutants in the soil."