Yara acquires Finnish Ecolan to expand its organic fertilizer business
Yara Ecolan
Copyright Yara International ASA
Oslo and Helsinki, 1 September, 2021: Yara Suomi Oy (“Yara”) announced today the acquisition of Ecolan Oy, a Finnish producer of recycled fertilizers. This is Yara’s first acquisition in the organic fertilizer segment and reflects our commitment to play a bigger role in organic farming and in contributing to the circular economy.
Yara works closely with partners throughout the food value chain to make food production more efficient and sustainable. Our crop nutrition solutions and digital tools help improve nutrient management practices and land use efficiency for all farming methods, including organic farming.
“By expanding our offerings into the growing organic farming segment in Europe, we can help improve nutrient use efficiency in this segment by capitalizing on our deep crop nutrition knowledge,” says Mónica Andrés, Executive Vice President for Yara Europe.
“Our core competence lies in managing nutrients in the most sustainable and efficient way, whether this is for organic farming or conventional farming. We want to be the leading partner for all farmers, regardless of which farming system they use,” she adds.
Ecolan utilizes industrial side streams to produce high quality fertilizers for agriculture and forestry.
“Ecolan is a Finnish front-runner in the circular economy. We have had good cooperation during the past years and now we are able to combine Yara’s and Ecolan’s knowledge and expertise to develop recycled fertilizers even further. With this acquisition, we will be able to offer organic fertilizers also to markets outside Finland,” says Timo Räsänen, Director for Specialty Products for the Nordic and Baltic countries at Yara.
As a result of several years of research and development, Yara brought a new organic fertilizer line with a high nitrogen content, which was produced by Ecolan, to the Finnish market in 2019.
“Starting from small-scale production, Ecolan has with the support of Korona Invest grown into one of Finland’s leading circular economy industrial companies. Through Yara’s ownership, Ecolan’s know-how can be utilized also internationally,” says Vesa Lehtomäki, Chairman of the Board of Korona Invest, Ecolan’s majority owner.
Today many organic waste streams are not being reused or recycled. Recovering nutrients from waste streams and bringing them back into agricultural production helps contribute to a circular economy and reduces nutrient losses. The European Green Deal encourages scaling up and promoting circular business models and increasing the share of European Union farmland under organic farming.
The circular economy has an important role to play in improving nutrient use efficiency, which is one of Yara’s core areas of expertise. Through our strategic partnerships with waste management and food companies, and by leveraging our crop nutrition knowledge, Yara is working to find optimal ways to recycle nutrients that would otherwise end up as waste and then process these to produce organic fertilizers.
For further information, please contact:
Timo Räsänen, Director, Specialty Products, Yara Suomi Oy
Mobil: (+358) (0)50 337 4514
E-mail: timo.rasanen@yara.com
For media inquiries, please contact:
Vibeke Larøi, Communications Manager, Yara Europe
Mobil: (+47) 942 85 337
E-mail: vibeke.laroi@yara.com
About Ecolan
Ecolan Oy is a Finnish front-runner in the circular economy and sustainable growth, utilizing industrial side streams to produce fertilizers for agriculture and forestry and recovered materials for earthwork and binders. The company has 21 employees and two main production facilities in Finland. Ecolan’s solutions help reduce CO2 emissions and enhance the growth of natural carbon sinks.
Ecolan has invested heavily in expanding its production capacity and in product development, which has resulted in significant revenue growth and strong market positions. Korona Invest Palvelurahasto I, a private equity fund managed by Korona Invest, acquired a majority stake in Ecolan Oy in 2015.
About Yara
Yara grows knowledge to responsibly feed the world and protect the planet. Supporting our vision of a world without hunger and a planet respected, we pursue a strategy of sustainable value growth, promoting climate-friendly crop nutrition and zero-emission energy solutions. Yara’s ambition is focused on growing a climate positive food future that creates value for our customers, shareholders and society at large and delivers a more sustainable food value chain.
To achieve our ambition, we have taken the lead in developing digital farming tools for precision farming, and work closely with partners throughout the food value chain to improve the efficiency and sustainability of food production. Through our focus on clean ammonia production, we aim to enable the hydrogen economy, driving a green transition of shipping, fertilizer production and other energy intensive industries.
Founded in 1905 to solve the emerging famine in Europe, Yara has established a unique position as the industry’s only global crop nutrition company. We operate an integrated business model with around 17,000 employees and operations in over 60 countries, with a proven track record of strong returns. In 2020, Yara reported revenues of USD 11.6 billion.
www.yara.com
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