(Bloomberg) -- Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko proposed approaching Russian fertilizer producers to coordinate a 10% potash output cut to increase its price on the market, according to the state-run Belta news service.
“Maybe we should talk to the Russians, consult and reduce the production of potash fertilizers by 10%, maybe 11%,” Lukashenko said Monday at a meeting with Andrey Rybakov, the new chief executive officer of the country’s biggest potash fertilizer company, Belaruskali.
“Everyone will understand that this is an expensive product and you need to pay the appropriate amount for it,” Lukashenko said, according to the news service. He asked Rybakov to follow up on his proposal after discussing it with Russian companies.
Cheap potash supplies are increasingly available after US and European Union sanctions re-routed trades and raised expansion costs for eastern European producers, Bloomberg Intelligence analyst Alexis Maxwell said in a Oct. 28 note.
Russia and Belarus jointly control about 40% of global potash exports. While Russia’s top producer Uralkali PJSC isn’t sanctioned, Belaruskali is under EU and US restrictions. Uralkali declined to comment.
K+S shares rose as much as 8.8% in Frankfurt, ICL Group climbed as much as 8.2% in Tel Aviv following the report.
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