Brazil Mining Ministry official on BloombergBrazil Aims to Cut Potash Import Needs to 60%, Official Says
https://noir.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=newsarchive&sid=aQoGe1F.bXlg
Nov. 17 (Bloomberg) -- Brazil, the world’s biggest sugar- cane and coffee grower, aims to cut dependency on potash imports to 60 percent from 91 percent of domestic demand in five years to lower costs for farmers, a Mining Ministry official said.
The government also aims to reach self-sufficiency in nitrogen-based fertilizers by 2013 and lower imports of crop additives made of phosphates to 20 percent from 50 percent in six years, Claudio Scliar, the ministry’s mining secretary, said in an interview in Brasilia yesterday.
“We’re focused on potash,” Scliar said. “We want to create conditions so that output increases enough to guarantee internal supply.”
The drive to boost fertilizer output is part of a government goal to lure as much as $260 billion of investments in mining in the next two decades. Vale SA, the world’s biggest iron-ore exporter, is the only company currently producing potash in Brazil, supplying 9 percent of domestic consumption, Scliar said. Petroleo Brasileiro SA, Brazil’s state-controlled oil producer, still hasn’t tapped its potash deposits in the Amazon.
Potash is a water-soluble form of potassium. More than 93 percent of global production, which predominantly comes from Russia, Belarus and Canada, is used to make fertilizer.
To contact the reporter on this story: Katia Cortes in Brasilia Newsroom at kcortes@bloomberg.net
To contact the editor responsible for this story: Dale Crofts at dcrofts@bloomberg.net
Last Updated: November 17, 2010 05:15 EST
Now how do you suppose they plan on accomplishing this? ;-)