india threatens to drop potash use

As previously discussed, potash is the least needed of fertilizer commodities and is always the last to rally in price. Nitrogen usually first with phosphate not far behind. Potash usually lags at least a year ...

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India can afford to forgo use of potash this season
PTI | 08:06 PM,Jun 10,2011

Hyderabad, Jun 10 (PTI)

India can afford to forgo the use of potash (fertiliser) this season if the current deadlock between Indian importers and international potash suppliers over prices continues, a top official of Coromandel International Ltd (CIL) said today. According to G Ravi Prasad, President, CIL, the second largest producer of phosphatic fertilisers belonging to Murugappa group, the import price for India was discussed at the Industrial Fertilisers Associations� annual conference in Montreal, Canada recently. However an Indian contractual price for potash is yet to be announced. As the spot prices of potash are hovering above USD 500 per ton, the Indian Government offered to pay USD 420 against the previous price of USD370. The international potash suppliers, however, are not willing to settle for lower prices. "Agri-production will not be impacted if we do not use potash for one season. Food output will not drop. We have been using potash for so many years and the soil has become potash rich to withstand short supply for one time. Over and above that we have some opening stocks of potash with us," Prasad told media persons on the sidelines a conference on Agri-Business in Andhra Pradesh today. He said India, which imports around 6 million tons of potash annually has nearly 5 lakh tons stock on hand with various companies including CIL. According to him, the current stock of Potash with various manufacturers will contribute manufacture 12 lakh tons of Complex fertilisers. Replying to query on alternatives for Potash, Prasad said CIL has plans to make the fertiliser using Molasses. "There is alternate for potash which is coming from molasses. Molasses has some percentage of Potash in it. We have manufacturing license also and can make around 5000 tons per annum," the CIL president said.

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