India not making headway with potash buys abroad
The Business Standard reports a senior official from India's state department of fertilizers says so far the country's effort to secure potash imports at a better price by aiding Indian companies to acquire assets abroad has not made any breakthrough.
The global potash market is controlled by about 10 mainly Canadian companies and a couple of Russian producers. With no local producers, India imports more than 6 million tonnes of muriate of potash a year for its 50 million small-scale farmers. Current pricing is around the $500/tonne level and Scotiabank recently said demand is weakening and after two years of steady price hikes 2012 will see no growth.