India may outrun China for contract with Uralkali

Oleg Petrov, sales and marketing director of a Russian potassium company Uralkali, may conclude a new long-term contract with India earlier than with China, according to Bloomberg news agency.

Traditionally, the Chinese contract establishes price floor for the current year, and India buys potassium chloride at a premium.

Only in 2008 was the situation reversed, when India was the first to sign contracts on potassium chloride deliveries, and China was obliged to pay a premium.

Oleg Petrov noted that Uralkali was planning to resume talks on a new contract with China in March. According to him, there are still a lot of stock reserves of potassium chloride in China – about 4.5 mln tonnes. “We saw even larger stock reserves but it is still more than 2.5 mln tonnes, the level that we believe to be suitable for signing a new contract,” Oleg Petrov said.

Uralkali’s contract with India is in force until March, 2015, and the price of potassium minerals delivered to India is $322 per tonne

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