https://www.miningweekly.com

Brazil needs potash and Belarus is looking for ways to supply it

6th April 2022

By: Bloomberg

  

Font size: - +

Agricultural powerhouse Brazil is desperate for fertilisers. Belarus, a sanctioned regime friendly to Russia’s Vladimir Putin, is looking for ways to ship more of the nutrients.

Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko gave his stamp of approval to small companies trying to export potash to cash in on skyrocketing fertilizer prices. But the US and the EU banned the country’s shipments of the nutrient, leaving Brazilian farmers scrambling. To secure enough potash for the soybean planting in September, Brazil may need to resort to barter or using yuan and Chinese intermediary.

“Companies in Brazil are up for business in almost all ways: payments, barter, exchanges,” said Jeferson Souza, fertiliser analyst for Agrinvest Commodities in Brazil. “We are getting dangerously close to the planting in Brazil and we are short several tons.”

Belarus controlled about a fifth of the global potash market and was a major seller to Brazil until Lithuania in January cut off a key transit route amid U.S. sanctions imposed in 2021. Then Russia, the second-biggest potash producer, invaded Ukraine, further limiting supply of fertilizers from the region. Brazil has been seeking exemptions that would allow some potash purchases to avoid hunger and food inflation.

Belarus can still sell potash to the Russian market, a move that could push Russian companies to export more. But as of today, Russians are not able to export sizable quantities, according to CRU Group analyst Humphrey Knight. Even amid all that distress, some vessels are slowly being booked to bring fertilizers out of Russia to Brazil, but the volumes are small and buyers are not disclosing details. Russia limited sales of its nutrients abroad and many ports and shipping lines balk at Russian freight.

The South American nation ships in more than 85% of its fertilizer demand, with the dependency on imports exceeding 90% in potash and nitrogen. Russia and Belarus account for 28% of the total.

Edited by Bloomberg

Comments

The content you are trying to access is only available to subscribers.

If you are already a subscriber, you can Login Here.

If you are not a subscriber, you can subscribe now, by selecting one of the below options.

For more information or assistance, please contact us at subscriptions@creamermedia.co.za.

Option 1 (equivalent of R125 a month):

Receive a weekly copy of Creamer Media's Engineering News & Mining Weekly magazine
(print copy for those in South Africa and e-magazine for those outside of South Africa)
Receive daily email newsletters
Access to full search results
Access archive of magazine back copies
Access to Projects in Progress
Access to ONE Research Report of your choice in PDF format

Option 2 (equivalent of R375 a month):

All benefits from Option 1
PLUS
Access to Creamer Media's Research Channel Africa for ALL Research Reports, in PDF format, on various industrial and mining sectors including Electricity; Water; Energy Transition; Hydrogen; Roads, Rail and Ports; Coal; Gold; Platinum; Battery Metals; etc.

Already a subscriber?

Forgotten your password?

MAGAZINE & ONLINE

SUBSCRIBE

RESEARCH CHANNEL AFRICA

SUBSCRIBE

CORPORATE PACKAGES

CLICK FOR A QUOTATION