Ostchem makes 9.1 million liters of AdBlue in 2023

In 2023, Ostchem nitrogen holding manufactured and sold 9.1 million liters of AdBlue, which amounted to 19% of the entire market. Thereby Ostchem took the largest market share among Ukrainian manufacturers.

 

“In 2023, the Ukrainian AdBlue market more than doubled (+ 108%), compared to last year, to 48.9 million liters. The growth of the market is successfully closed by Ukrainian manufacturers, which have doubled the production of the reagent. Ostchem is rapidly increasing its market share, we have opened an additional AdBlue production plant with a capacity of 800 tons at Cherkasy Azot and in the near future we are considering the construction of a similar production facility at Rivneazot. We have all the prerequisites for further growth of market share and a very clear plan for how to do it. The trend for import substitution will increase, and the share of imports in the Ukrainian market will obviously decrease,” said Petro Dulskyi, head of the AdBlue Ostchem project.

 

The total market size of AdBlue in 2021 was 32.9 million liters, in 2022 – 23.5 million liters, in 2023 – 48.9 million liters.

At the same time, Ukrainian producers doubled production volumes in 2023, increasing the volume of products from 15.3 to 30.4 million liters.

Today Ukrainian producers account for 58.1% of the market. A number of large traders and Ukrainian consumers are gradually abandoning imported products in favor of the Ukrainian manufacturer. The main sellers of the Ukrainian AdBlue market are Ostchem, CrossChem, ChemElements, TIZ-Karbogaz.

 

AdBlue is an additive for diesel cars, which reduces the content of nitrogen oxides in diesel engine exhaust by 90%.

 

The use of AdBlue is stipulated by European environmental standards Euro-4-5-6 and is mandatory for diesel cars that meet EU standards.

 

Ostchem will continue to implement the previously announced strategy for the development of the nitrogen business, which is based on investments in increasing AdBlue production capacity and gradually displacing imported products due to quality and price.

 

As of the beginning of 2024, Ostchem’s production facilities are capable of producing AdBlue, which can provide 80% of the needs of the Ukrainian market, and, if necessary, can increase production to close all domestic consumption and exports to EU markets.

 

“We will plan to increase our presence in retail chains and now we are going to large contracts with large gas station chains, such as WOG and Ukrnafta. The priorities of 2023 are the construction of new production facilities, the growth of our market share, the development of a sales network and the development of all logistics issues. We are already represented in Kharkiv, Vinnytsia, Kovel, Odesa, Dnipropetrovsk and Mukachevo, our plans include representative offices in all regions. In parallel, we are developing a new direction – working with international companies and entering the EU markets. We systematically confirm the quality of our products not only in our own laboratory, but also in laboratories in Germany and Poland,” Dulskyi added.

According to Group DF estimates, the volume of the European AdBlue market exceeds 4.5 billion liters/year. The largest consumers of AdBlue are Germany (consumption level – 1.1 billion liters/year), France (1.01 billion liters/year) tons/year), Italy (0.6 billion liters/year), Spain (0.62 billion ) and UK (0.6 billion liters/year).