Europe Faces TNT Shortage as Swedish Defence Firm Battles Red Tape and Delays in Factory Construction

Plans to launch the first TNT production facility in Europe in decades have encountered significant delays, as Swebal, a Swedish defence company, grapples with stringent European Union regulations. Chief executive Joakim Sjöblom has highlighted how excessive bureaucratic demands have hindered progress, stalling much-needed rearmament efforts on the continent.

Before breaking ground on the new site near the town of Nora in Sweden, Swebal has faced the task of completing hundreds of pages of documentation. The construction has been particularly delayed by the need to conduct multiple local wildlife surveys to satisfy planning authorities. Sjöblom recounted that an analysis completed in October was dismissed by officials on the grounds that it missed the nesting bird season, forcing a second assessment in April and a third in June to track blooming flowers. The entrepreneur views such processes as a reflection of how bureaucracy has spiralled within the EU.

The costs of compliance have been sizeable. Swebal, supported by €80m in investment, has already spent over £1m managing the permitting requirements. Their application to the court of environment, which fills more than 400 pages, comprises 14 different analytical studies, including assessments of groundwater, ancient remains and endangered species. The scale of these obstacles signals high barriers to entry for new ammunition manufacture in the region.

When operational in 2027, Swebal’s factory aims to boost Europe’s TNT production capacity by about 75 per cent. This facility would be the continent’s first significant producer since existing capabilities have dwindled. Presently, Europe is reliant on a single factory in Poland, managed by Nitro-Chem, yielding a total of 6,000 metric tonnes of TNT per year, compared with Russia’s 20,000-tonne output. Swebal’s new plant would add 4,500 new tonnes annually to Europe’s portfolio.

This disparity in resources extends beyond raw TNT. European ammunition production stands at some 700,000 shells each year, in stark contrast to Russia’s five million. That gap has left European states dependent on imports from nations such as China and Vietnam to maintain their capabilities.

Brussels is pledging €800bn to bolster defences over the next five years, conscious of the mounting threat posed by Russian military strength. Sjöblom warned that regulatory bottlenecks like those experienced by Swebal could undermine Europe’s deterrence posture, especially if adversaries do not face similar constraints. The race to strengthen manufacturing is proving to be as much about political agility as it is about industrial capacity.