Belarusians Raise Potassium Prices
The Belarusian Potassium Co. has raised its prices for potassium chloride for Asia and Brazil. This comes just two weeks after it stopped signing new export contracts. Analysts say that the company is preparing to sign a more profitable contract with its main customer, China, in the new year. The price was raised from $360 to $400 per ton for Asia and from $345-355 to $400-410 for Brazil, depending on the volume of the import, beginning January 1.
The Belarusian Potassium Co., an independent enterprise belonging to Uralkaly and Belaruskaly, cited increased shipping costs as the cause of the price increase. Two weeks ago, a Russian producer of potassium, Silvinit, announced that it would possibly cease shipments of its production because of transportation problems. Immediately following that, the major potassium producers of the world, beginning with the Canadian Potash Corp., suspended contract talks to study the situation on the world market.
Uralkaly needs a sharp rise of potassium prices on the spot market in order to conclude a profitable contract with China. As the main consumer of that company's production, and consumer of 20 percent of world production, China is accustomed to receiving potassium at a discount of $150-160 per ton off world prices. Now the Chinese can expect to pay $300 per ton.
www.kommersant.com
All the Article in Russian as of Nov. 08, 2007
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