Uralkali Cuts Potash Output Target by 8% to Support Price Uralkali Cuts Potash Output Target by 8% to Support Price
June 19, 2014 (Source: Businessweek) — OAO Uralkali (URKA), the world’s largest potash company by production, cut its output target for this year by about 8 percent to support prices.
The company cut projected volumes to 11 million metric tons from 12 million tons, Chief Executive Officer Dmitry Osipov said at Uralkali’s Capital Markets Day today in Moscow. The fertilizer maker will continue to consider market conditions when weighing production levels, he said.
Uralkali signed a 700,000-ton seaborne-supply deal with China in January at $305 a ton, covering the first half of 2014. The producer expects talks on the next sea contract may start in September, with an agreement possible in the fourth quarter, he said.
While an April meeting between Dmitry Mazepin, billionaire owner of 20-percent Uralkali shareholder OAO Uralchem, and Belarus President Aleksandr Lukashenko could be viewed as the start of talks with Russia’s neighbor, it’s too early to discuss the terms under which the former partners may restore cooperation, Osipov said. Any future reconciliation would have to be beneficial to both participants, he said.