Monday's Business Australian:ROBIN BROMBY...

Monday's Business Australian:
ROBIN BROMBY [email protected]
"TWO months is a long time in the potash market, it seems.
Back in March the chief executive of Germany’s K+S, Europe’s leading potash producer and now developing a large potash mine in Saskatchewan, described the market as uncertain and fragile. Last week, announcing the company’s quarterly results (which were better than expected), Norbert Steiner was talking about the potash market being “robust” and opined that prices had bottomed out.
Not before time. The breakup of the Russian-Belarus cartel took a terrible toll of the industry worldwide, sending prices into severe decline. In early 2013, contracts were settled at about $US430 a tonne for muriate of potash (the market-dominating but lower-priced of the two types). Last month the Russian company Uralkali signed a deal to sell 800,000 tonnes to India for $US322/tonne. So it seems the very real fears of prices ending up sub-$US300 have not been realised.
So we might see a little colour back in the cheeks of local potash hopefuls.
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Other potash plays to keep an eye on are FYI Resources (FYI) with its projects in Thailand (and a large market on its doorstep) along with the brine lake plays here in Australia.
Rum Jungle Resources (RUM) has Karinga Creek and Reward Minerals (RWD) its Lake Disappointment project in Western Australia. These brine projects are much cheaper to process than mining underground and contain sulphate of potash."