Situation on global fertilizer market worsening, Russia ready to export in absence of barriers - Putin

MOSCOW. March 10 (Interfax) - Russia is ready to supply mineral fertilizers to foreign partners, and restrictions on their import on global markets will lead to further growth in food prices, Russian President Vladimir Putin said at a meeting with government members.

At the same time, Putin emphasized that the priority is ensuring fertilizer supplies on the domestic market in Russia.

"An extremely acute situation is unfolding in the world [on the fertilizer market], even before the events connected to Ukraine. It was difficult even without that, now it's getting worse, because Russia and Belarus are among the largest suppliers of mineral fertilizers on the global market. And if problems are going to be further created for us with financing, insurance, logistics, then prices, which are already prohibitive, will grow even more. And this will influence prices on food products. We should by no means allow something similar on our food market, therefore we need to ensure the necessary volumes for our agricultural producers first and foremost," Putin said.

"But we have resources, we can, are ready, to supply our foreign partners. If problems are created for us, then negative consequences for this sector of the global economy are inescapable," he said.