Russian fertilizers hit record U.S. imports and remain vital for Russia’s war machine
Record volumes of Russian fertilizers were imported by the United States in March.
The transaction value exceeded $240 million — the highest level in the entire history of bilateral trade, NEXTA reports. In the first quarter of 2026, U.S. imports of fertilizers from Russia totaled $564 million — a 37% increase year-on-year.
In addition, the United States lifted sanctions on three Belarusian fertilizer producers. “All of them are pillars of the Belarusian economy, and the lifting of sanctions effectively provides the regime with an economic lifeline,” the New York Times notes. This came amid the war with Iran, which led to a sharp increase in fertilizer prices.
The fertilizer sector is one of the most resilient parts of Russia’s wartime economy. Russian fertilizer companies are often left outside sanctions due to food security concerns. They continue exporting their products globally, maintaining access to international markets and financial flows. At the same time, they supply Russia’s military-industrial complex with chemicals used in the production of explosives.
Experts at NAKO have studied the “dual-use” nature of Russian fertilizers. We identified 56 companies through which fertilizer chemicals are transformed into explosives. Sanctions coverage remains uneven: none of these companies is sanctioned across all major jurisdictions, while 27 are not sanctioned at all.
The full report is available on the NAKO website.