Achema

Achema, AB

Achema factory in Jonava
Trading name	Achema
Industry	Fertilizers
Successor	Achemos grupė
Founded	1962 (1962)
Headquarters	Jonava, Lithuania
Revenue	2.3 bil. LTL
Website	www.achema.lt

Achema is the largest fertilizer producer in the Baltic states. It is located in the city of Jonava in central Lithuania. In 2011 Achema employed about 1700 workers and reached 2.2 billion Litas revenues (about 640 million Euros), net profit was 96.3 million Litas (27.9 million Euros). The current managing director is Arūnas Laurinaitis.

The factory construction began in 1962 as one of the state-owned enterprises of the Lithuanian SSR.

An explosion occurred in the chemical fertilizers factory on 20 March 1989, causing a leak of nearly 7,500 tonnes of liquid ammonia. The catastrophe developed further into a fire of nitrophoska and fertilizers storehouses polluting the atmosphere with products of their decomposition: nitrous oxide, chlorine gas, etc. The toxic cloud moved towards Ukmergė, Širvintos, Kėdainiai. The concentration of ammonia surpassed the permissible level 150 times in Upninkai, located 10 km from the enterprise. One day after the accident, a toxic cloud 7 km wide and 50 km long was recorded between Jonava and Kėdainiai. Seven people died during the fire and leakage of ammonia, 29 became handicapped, and more people suffered from acute respiratory and cardiac arrest.

Coordinates: 55°5′7″N 24°19′50″E / 55.08528°N 24.33056°E / 55.08528; 24.33056