Moscow, Russia – December 14, 2009 – URALCHEM, OJSC, (“the Company” or “URALCHEM”), one of the largest producers of nitrogen and phosphate fertilizers in Russia and the CIS, today announced that four core production units at Azot OJSC (“Azot”), one of URALCHEM’s key subsidiaries, reached their planned annual production volumes ahead of schedule during the first eleven months of the year mainly due to consistent execution, the optimization of maintenance periods and favourable market conditions for ammonium nitrate sales.

The output of Azot’s ammonia large-tonnage units 1A and 1B was up by 111.6% and by 108.0% year on year producing 450,000 tonnes and 468,500 tonnes of ammonia, respectively. Its urea unit manufactured 494,800 tonnes of urea, increasing its production capacity by 124.6% compared to the same period of 2008. The total output of Azot’s production unit of water-resistant ammonium nitrate for the first eleven months more than doubled year on year and generated 203,400 tonnes of all types of ammonium nitrate for the first, benefiting from the launch of new products and well-coordinated teamwork of experts. Currently, four different types of ammonium nitrate, such as porous white ammonium nitrate, porous yellow ammonium nitrate, water-resistant ammonium nitrate and GOST 2-85 ammonium nitrate, are produced at this plant in order to satisfy customer demand.

Konstantin Kiselev, Deputy Chief Engineer of Azot, commented: “We are delighted that our production facilities have achieved excellent results ahead of plan in ammonium nitrate, urea and ammonia. Thanks to the joint cooperation of all departments, today we can witness Azot’s balanced development and its increased production. We look forward to developing new product lines to meet customer demand in the future.”