Agriculture in China and India would be the biggest winner after Russia's Uralkali walked away from one of the world's two big potash cartels, paving the way for consumers to demand hefty price cuts. The two Asian countries account for about 30 per cent of global demand for crop nutrient potash, and had been forced to swallow high prices for a decade in a market dominated by Uralkali's Belarus Potash Company and Canpotex, a North American producer group.
Potash prices could drop by about 25 per cent this year, Uralkali said on Tuesday, to about $300 per tonne.
The Russian firm now plans to boost production in a bid to increase sales to India, Brazil and China, where it will ship more than 2.5 million tonnes in 2013, up from two million last year.
"(Uralkali) has thrown a bomb by saying prices will go down to $300 per tonne," a senior executive at an Indian fertiliser firm said, declining to be identified.
