MINSK, Sept 17 (Reuters) - World number one potash exporter Belarusian Potash Company (BPC) has raised the price of its new contract with China by a quarter to $290 per tonne, it said on Monday, confirming a global price floor set in a contract with India last month.
China is the world's largest consumer of potash, a crop nutrient, and a contract with the country usually establishes a global price. However, this year BPC, which controls 20 percent of the global potash market, signed its contract with India before talks with China were finished. to supply after a drought across Europe have fed into rising potash prices this year. the agreement reached with a consortium of Chinese buyers including Sinochem, CNAMPGC and CNOOC in Beijing on Monday, BPC raised the price to $290 per tonne from $230 per tonne in the previous contract.
Under the new contract, the company will be supplying potash to China by mid-2019. BPC is the trading division of state-owned miner Belaruskali and is one of the key sources of the country's dollar revenue.
While the price of China's potash contracts was usually $10 to $15 lower than Indian contracts in the previous years, the new contract reflects the upward trend in the global potash market, BPC said.
"This is a good price, and we are sure that this level will help to secure the future progressive development of both the Chinese market and the global market," Chief Executive Elena Kudryavets said in the statement.