TORONTO (miningweekly.com) – It would appear, borrowing Potash Corp CEO Bill Doyle’s analogy, that India’s potash buyers have managed to catch their tail.

Agrium CEO Mike Wilson on Wednesday said that Canpotex, the marketing cartel for Canada’s three biggest producers of the crop nutrient, had struck a deal to supply India with potash at $470/t for the fourth quarter of this year, similar to the pricing level it agreed to with China last month.

“I’m pleased to announce that overnight Canpotex settled with its customers in India,” he said on Agrium’s earnings call.

Doyle had in July called the protracted talks with Indian buyers “extraordinarily frustrating”, saying the country would only settle for prices that existed a few months ago, in a rapidly rising market.

“It’s been a little like a dog chasing its tail this year. They never quite caught up with their tail because they always wanted the price that was four months ago, but the market keeps changing,” Doyle said.

India, however, did agree to pay $530/t for the first quarter of next year, for an equal volume of potash as in the last quarter of 2011.

“We’re pleased that this negotiation has come to a conclusion and we are now in a position to supply our key contract customers,” Wilson said.

India halted potash imports earlier this year, after it failed to reach a price agreement with producers including Potash Corp, Mosaic and Agrium, demanding a discount to the market price because of the large volumes the country uses.

Mosaic CEO Jim Prokopanko said last month that Canpotex’s “cupboard is bare” and that it would only resume talks with Indian buyers later in the third quarter.

Doyle had said talks were due to resume in September.

RECORD EARNINGS

Agrium, meanwhile, reported record earnings of $718-million for the second quarter, a 39% rise on the same period last year, as soaring crop prices lifted demand for its fertiliser products.

“Global crop and crop nutrient markets remain tight. The combination of all these factors is expected to bode well for crop input demand this fall and Agrium will be there to provide the products necessary for growers to maximize their yields and returns,” Wilson said in an earlier statement.

Potash Corp is the world’s biggest fertiliser company.

Agrium has a larger interest in the retail side of the business, where it sells fertiliser products and seeds directly to farmers.

Scotiabank economics VP and commodity market specialist Patricia Mohr said in a July report potash prices might approach $600 including cost and freight by late 2011.

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