Market and product

Muriate of potash (MOP) fertilizer exports from Russia are “a little easier” of late despite sanctions imposed on Russian businesses and banks, a market player said on Monday.

“It was tough a few months ago [to ship MOP from Russia], but buyers are more agreeable now,” said the market player, speaking on the sidelines of the International Fertilizer Association (IFA) conference in Vienna.

“There was a window that opened up which allowed [more MOP exports].”

Russia’s potash industry has not been sanctioned directly, but logistical and banking services supplying the export businesses are facing restrictions.

The global MOP market remains structurally short following a series of sanctions imposed first on Belarus – the world’s second-largest MOP producer – and then on Russia following the latter’s invasion of Ukraine.

“I don’t see [Belarusian potash availability] coming back. Nobody knows how the market is going to work with rounds and rounds of sanctions,” added the source.

The possibility of a barter-style system trading Ukrainian grain exports for Belarusian and Russian fertilizer exports was also a topic of conversation in Vienna, as the potential political move was again heard in passing discussion at the UN.

According to Belarusian state-run newswire BelTA, Vyacheslav Viktorovich Volodin, the chairman of the Russia’s parliament, the Duma, also discussed such a prospect in a social media post.

“The EU, having banned the supply of fertilizers from Russia and Belarus, has already faced a shortage of them. And as for potash, with a complete absence,” Volodin said.

“Washington and Brussels are proliferating statements with proposals to empty grain storage to make room for a new crop. But today in Ukraine the situation is not simple: many of its regions have not carried out full spring field work.”

The IFA annual conference run in Vienna on 30 May-1 June.   - ICIS-