Potash terminal star performer for Vancouver port

The North Shore news reports shipments of potash out of North Vancouver’s Neptune Terminals rose 37% in the first six months of this year, compared to a mere 1% gain for overall tonnage handled by Port Metro Vancouver over last year.

The increase, which brings the terminal’s total to 3.8 million tonnes, was spurred by robust potash demand in Asia. Last year’s total also marked a substantial jump from the previous year, when total tonnage rose 143%.

The five biggest markets for potash from Vancouver are Brazil, China, India, Indonesia and Malaysia.

Last week MINING.com reported Canpotex, the global marketing and distribution company for Potash Corp. of Saskatchewan, Mosaic and Agrium, agreed to sell potash to India at $470 a tonne in the fourth quarter for 50% of the shipments and $530 a tonne during from next year. The deal follows months of difficult negotiations and ends the moratorium on potash imports declared by the Fertilizer Association of India in April.

North Shore News reports overall volumes handled by the port were 58.7 million tonnes between January and June 2011, a one per cent increase over the same period in 2010.