World potash market shows signs of price upsurge
The trend of sustained growth of potash prices will remain in 2018, predict analysts of the Bernstein Research, Wall Street's leading research and brokerage firm. The positive developments on the global potash market are conditioned by solid demand and stabilizing income of agricultural producers. According to experts, the demand growth for potash will amount 2.5% or 1.6 million tons in 2018. Positive forecasts give breathing space for exporters to build optimistic plans for the future after a stagnation in 2016 amid a harvest surplus of potash-loving crops. One of the directions of industrial strategy of Turkmenistan aimed at the developing new branches of production, is the creation of the agrochemical industry. So, in spring 2017, the country put into operation the first-born of this industry - Garlyk ore mining and processing plant with an annual capacity of 1.4 million tonnes of potash fertilizers. Union of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs of Turkmenistan plans to build another complex with annual output capacity of 3.5 million tonnes of potash and 700 thousand tonnes of potassium chloride at Tubegatan field. Earlier, the Orient reported that the Union has concluded a Framework agreement with “China CAMC Engineering Co.” incorporated company. Under the deal, the Chinese firm will act as the general contractor of the project on the terms of investment recovery at the expense of the plant’s production. According to FAO reports, the world demand for potash fertilizers will jump over 37 million tonnes in 2020, exceeding the indicators of 2017 by 8,7%. The biggest consumer will be the Asia with China and India among the top importers of potash nutrient. That opens up rosy prospects for the potash industry of Turkmenistan in terms of sales markets, taking into account geographic vicinity of these countries.
