5 ms·

Russia Has Halted the Export of Ammonium Nitrate

30 points by 99_00 5y ago

axiosgunnar 5y ago
What is it used for? Explosives?
- loceng 5y ago
  I'm wondering the same - or perhaps biological weapons? It's obviously a cover story, their farmland and farmer needs didn't just all of a sudden lead to requiring the amount it exports.
  - semioticthrowa 5y ago
    It's a common explosive. It's not a biological weapon - Wikipedia states that it has a similar median lethal dose to table salt[0] [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ammonium_nitrate#Health_hazards https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ammonium_nitrate#Health_hazard...
  - kristijankej 5y ago
    The price of living in eastern europe is rising. Natural gas prices have rissen quite a bit where I live and it's disrupting the economy, prices of everything will rise in the upcoming months. I believe this is economical warfare.
    - mythrwy 5y ago
      Yep, it's not explosives. Much better explosives can be made by nation states. But nothing like having food prices go through the roof to destabilize society.
    - loceng 5y ago
      Good point - or it's a double-whammy economic warfare + reserves for weapons manufacturing; ideally it's also them shooting themselves in the foot and some ally country is seeing the business opportunity, and security threat, and will ramp up production. In smart, organized nations, they'll hopefully realize this and simply go into debt - ideally at the same rate as other allies who ideally share the burden, so no one is "getting behind" more than the other ally.
    - slowhand09 5y ago
      On a possibly related note, Ukraine is one of the largest wheat exporters in the world. A disruption in their planting and growing season could greatly impact food prices, expecially in the Middle East and Europe.
    - sedan_baklazhan 5y ago
      You can't call a situation when a country is keeping important fertilizers to itself an "economical warfare". There is no obligation at all for Russia to sell the maximum possible amount of fetilizers to Europe. It is even not in Russia's interests at all. Do you know of any such obligations?
  - agency 5y ago
    Right and there are no other exogenous factors that could impact Russia's desire to export fertilizer, like an ongoing global pandemic wreaking havoc on supply chains. It must be biological weapons.
- pajko 5y ago
  It's what exploded in Beirut: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MEpFyE_ED7M https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MEpFyE_ED7M
  - abletonlive 5y ago
    It's what's on fire now in North Carolina: https://www.cbsnews.com/news/winston-salem-fertilizer-plant-fire-ammonium-nitrate-explosion-potential/ https://www.cbsnews.com/news/winston-salem-fertilizer-plant-...
- dehrmann 5y ago
  Mostly fertilizer.
- jml7c5 5y ago
  Fertilizing crops. Prices for fertilizer have spiked due to insufficient supply, though I'm not familiar with the cause of the shortfall. There are a number of inputs to fertilizer production, and issues anywhere in the chain can create problems. China is also limiting exports. It's going to be rough for developing countries: https://www.wsj.com/articles/farms-are-failing-as-fertilizer-prices-drive-up-cost-of-food-11642770182 https://www.wsj.com/articles/farms-are-failing-as-fertilizer... Fun fact: the Haber-Bosch process is responsible for something on the order of 30%-50% of the nitrogen in your body. At some point in the recent past, they were pulled from the air and used to create ammonia at an ammonia production plant.
loceng 5y ago
Is ammonium nitrate used for weapons production of any kind?
- rootsudo 5y ago
  Explosives and Fertilizer. It can also be used in drug production.
boomskats 5y ago
Random Brazilian news site: Russia has publicly announced that they're halting exports of fertiliser for a couple of months to ensure supply to domestic market. HN: Weapons manufacturing! Explosives! Economic WARFARE! Quoting a thread from earlier today[0]: > Has anyone else noticed that HN feels a lot more angry all around lately? [0]: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=30193946 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=30193946
- 99_00 5y ago
  When I submitted this, I thought it was obvious that it was about fertilizer, which is already in short supply and is going to make inflation worse. I think that is a lot more interesting and important than what's going on in Ukraine. I guess I'm in a bubble.
aught 5y ago
This was expected and its been a supply issue for a while, also they had to do this last year as well.
dzhiurgis 5y ago
Interesting. A few of Lithuanian companies were on fire recently as they've continued moving fertiliser from Belarus even after sanctions were imposed. Strange there are no same sanctions for Russia tho.

30 points by 99_00 5y ago

axiosgunnar 5y ago

What is it used for? Explosives?

loceng 5y ago
I'm wondering the same - or perhaps biological weapons? It's obviously a cover story, their farmland and farmer needs didn't just all of a sudden lead to requiring the amount it exports.
- semioticthrowa 5y ago
  It's a common explosive. It's not a biological weapon - Wikipedia states that it has a similar median lethal dose to table salt[0] [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ammonium_nitrate#Health_hazards https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ammonium_nitrate#Health_hazard...
- kristijankej 5y ago
  The price of living in eastern europe is rising. Natural gas prices have rissen quite a bit where I live and it's disrupting the economy, prices of everything will rise in the upcoming months. I believe this is economical warfare.
  - mythrwy 5y ago
    Yep, it's not explosives. Much better explosives can be made by nation states. But nothing like having food prices go through the roof to destabilize society.
  - loceng 5y ago
    Good point - or it's a double-whammy economic warfare + reserves for weapons manufacturing; ideally it's also them shooting themselves in the foot and some ally country is seeing the business opportunity, and security threat, and will ramp up production. In smart, organized nations, they'll hopefully realize this and simply go into debt - ideally at the same rate as other allies who ideally share the burden, so no one is "getting behind" more than the other ally.
  - slowhand09 5y ago
    On a possibly related note, Ukraine is one of the largest wheat exporters in the world. A disruption in their planting and growing season could greatly impact food prices, expecially in the Middle East and Europe.
  - sedan_baklazhan 5y ago
    You can't call a situation when a country is keeping important fertilizers to itself an "economical warfare". There is no obligation at all for Russia to sell the maximum possible amount of fetilizers to Europe. It is even not in Russia's interests at all. Do you know of any such obligations?
- agency 5y ago
  Right and there are no other exogenous factors that could impact Russia's desire to export fertilizer, like an ongoing global pandemic wreaking havoc on supply chains. It must be biological weapons.
pajko 5y ago
It's what exploded in Beirut: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MEpFyE_ED7M https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MEpFyE_ED7M
- abletonlive 5y ago
  It's what's on fire now in North Carolina: https://www.cbsnews.com/news/winston-salem-fertilizer-plant-fire-ammonium-nitrate-explosion-potential/ https://www.cbsnews.com/news/winston-salem-fertilizer-plant-...
dehrmann 5y ago
Mostly fertilizer.
jml7c5 5y ago
Fertilizing crops. Prices for fertilizer have spiked due to insufficient supply, though I'm not familiar with the cause of the shortfall. There are a number of inputs to fertilizer production, and issues anywhere in the chain can create problems. China is also limiting exports. It's going to be rough for developing countries: https://www.wsj.com/articles/farms-are-failing-as-fertilizer-prices-drive-up-cost-of-food-11642770182 https://www.wsj.com/articles/farms-are-failing-as-fertilizer... Fun fact: the Haber-Bosch process is responsible for something on the order of 30%-50% of the nitrogen in your body. At some point in the recent past, they were pulled from the air and used to create ammonia at an ammonia production plant.

loceng 5y ago

Is ammonium nitrate used for weapons production of any kind?

rootsudo 5y ago
Explosives and Fertilizer. It can also be used in drug production.

boomskats 5y ago

Random Brazilian news site: Russia has publicly announced that they're halting exports of fertiliser for a couple of months to ensure supply to domestic market. HN: Weapons manufacturing! Explosives! Economic WARFARE! Quoting a thread from earlier today[0]: > Has anyone else noticed that HN feels a lot more angry all around lately? [0]: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=30193946 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=30193946

99_00 5y ago
When I submitted this, I thought it was obvious that it was about fertilizer, which is already in short supply and is going to make inflation worse. I think that is a lot more interesting and important than what's going on in Ukraine. I guess I'm in a bubble.

aught 5y ago

This was expected and its been a supply issue for a while, also they had to do this last year as well.

dzhiurgis 5y ago

Interesting. A few of Lithuanian companies were on fire recently as they've continued moving fertiliser from Belarus even after sanctions were imposed. Strange there are no same sanctions for Russia tho.