URALCHEM has become a participant of The Responsible Care programme

Moscow, Russia – 21 December, 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 it has joined the international Responsible Care programme. At the beginning of December 2009 Viktor Ivanov, President of the Chemists Union of Russia, and Dmitry Osipov, the Chief Executive Officer of URALCHEM, OJSC signed an agreement concerning the Company’s participation in the programme.

Responsible Care is a large scale initiative of chemical industry representatives that has been started to increase technical, labour and environmental safety and improve the quality of production processes and final products. The United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) established Responsible Care in order to secure sustainable development of chemical enterprises and chemical industry in general. Companies Nizhnekamskneftekhim, Apatit, Shchekinoazot have also become participants of Responsible Care in Russia.

Viktor Ivanov, President of the Chemists Union of Russia congratulated URALCHEM on joining the Responsible Care programme and said he hoped that implementation of the programme would facilitate sustainable development of the enterprises and play a positive role in positioning mineral fertilizer producers in the eyes of the international community, investors, partners, governmental authorities, personnel and the public.

Dmitry Osipov, Chief Executive Officer of URALCHEM, commented: “Application of global best practices directly improves the competitiveness of our enterprises, strengthens their reputation in the eyes of shareholders, opens access to the world expertise in industrial and environmental safety, improvement of energy efficiency, labour protection, minimizing risks in course of transportation and storage of chemicals.”

From the time when URALCHEM was founded, it has always taken a very responsible approach concerning issues of safety and protection of labour and environment at the Company’s enterprises. The Company has adopted a policy on the use of natural resources and general environmental safety. To comply with the policy, URALCHEM enterprises hold a number of events to gradually decrease the load on the environment and secure ecological safety in course of the production process. These events include putting into operation modern facilities and purification systems, utilization of industrial waste and recultivation of waste site. In addition, URALCHEM pays close attention to the safety of production processes, creation of safe working places for the Company’s employees, protection of people’s health in the areas of Company’s enterprises operation. The Company has taken a number of steps to put into operation modern systems of production safety and systems to decrease the risk of emergencies.