Silvinit has notified partners and clients that it may suspend shipping the product, saying that the pit created as a result of past year’s breakdown at Uralkaly threats the nearby railway.
Photo: Vasiliy Shitov
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Potassium Maker Notifies of Shipment Delay
Silvinit potassium maker has notified partners and clients that it may suspend shipping the product, saying that the pit created as a result of past year’s breakdown at Uralkaly threatens the nearby railway. Russia’s and global potassium firms have responded to potential shortage by shelving conclusion of new contracts in view of forthcoming surge in the prices. Uralkaly quotes went up by over 9 percent Friday.
Silvinit has notified partners and counteragents about the increased risk of non-execution of contract obligations for reasons of force-majore. “At night to October 24, the size of the pit that resulted from flooding the BKPRU-1 of Uralkaly grew by 30 meters in the direction of the sole railway branch that connects Solikamsko-Bereznikovsky industrial unit with Trans-Siberian Railway. As the growth in pit is unpredictable, Silvinit will perhaps stop releasing its product due to the stoppage of railway communication,” sources with the company explained.
The traffic via the railway branch was halted in the second half of September, once the distance from the pit narrowed to 75 meters. Nowadays, the distance from the crater to bypassing railway branch of 800 meters is just 100 meters. So the shipment of potassium could be completely terminated already in November.
In Russian Railways, they said they have set to constructing a bypassing branch of 4,840 meters and it is due to become operational by February 2008. But Silvinit General Director Rostyam Sabirov claims than “even the decision about the route of this road hasn’t been finally made yet.”
On aggregate, Uralkaly and Silvinit control roughly 20 percent of global potassium market.
www.kommersant.com
All the Article in Russian as of Oct. 29, 2007
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