WSJ: Russia doubles imports of nitrocellulose, which is needed to make artillery ammunition

Washington, USA (Svidomi) — The Wall Street Journal reports, citing trade data, that Russia has boosted its imports of nitrocellulose, which is used to make gunpowder for artillery shells, among other things. The US, Germany and Taiwan companies are among the producers of nitrocellulose supplied to Russia over the past two years.

Russia's imports of nitrocellulose, a flammable cotton product central to the production of gunpowder and rocket fuel, increased by 70% in 2022, the first year of Moscow's full-scale invasion of Ukraine, and totalled 3,039 tonnes in mid-2023. It is twice as much as in 2021.

Defence companies around the world are scrambling to find ways to source nitrocellulose amid a shortage that has driven up prices and created obstacles to production. Only a handful of countries produce nitrocellulose, which is used primarily in munitions and subject to international trade restrictions.

Russia itself produces "little" nitrocellulose. After the European Union and the United States imposed sanctions on Moscow, China increased its material supply to Russia. However, according to trade data, one small company in Türkiye called Noy has been responsible for almost half of Russia's nitrocellulose imports since the start of the war. Russia buys nitrocellulose produced in the US, Germany, and Taiwan via Noy. According to corporate records, most of Noy's sales, based in Istanbul, were to Russian companies that are registered contractors of the Russian government.

The German subsidiaries of New York-based International Flavours & Fragrances sold at least 80 tonnes of nitrocellulose to Noy and then shipped the products to Russia. Taiwan's TNC Industrial produced more than 500 tonnes of nitrocellulose, which Noy shipped to Russia last year. Over the past two years, the company has purchased a similar volume of products from German producer Hagedorn-NC and shipped them to Russia.

Another Russian importer, Analytical Marketing Chemical Group, has received nitrocellulose from Taiwan over the past two years, worth almost $700,000. The organisation's website states that the company is a regular Kazan State Gunpowder Plant partner.

Western companies are also exporting to Russia amid a global nitrocellulose shortage that is slowing down NATO's production of artillery for Ukraine.