PETRIKOV DISTRICT, 27 August (BelTA) – The Belarusian potash manufacturer Belaruskali will increase its fertilizer production capacities up to 16 million tonnes by 2030, Belaruskali Director General Ivan Golovaty told Belarusian President Aleksandr Lukashenko on 27 August, BelTA has learned.
According to him, the company plans to ramp up its output to 15.1-15.5 million tonnes by 2025 and to reach 16 million tonnes by 2030.
“Over the past five years since 2016, production volumes have increased from 10 million tonnes to 12.8 million tonnes. The export of potash fertilizers went up by 10%,” the general director said.
He briefed the president on the prospects of Petrikov Mining and Processing Plant. The plant's annual production capacity is 1.5 million tonnes. It can be higher, given the installed high capacity domestic equipment, which has shown its best in Soligorsk. “With the designed capacity of 1.5 million tonnes, we will be able to produce up to two million tonnes,” Ivan Golovaty said.
Taking into account the available deposits, there is an opportunity to increase production up to 3 million tonnes per year. For this purpose, there is a site where an additional shaft will be built.
Ivan Golovaty said: if the total investment in the construction of Petrikov Mining and Processing Plant was planned at $1.5 billion, given cost optimization, the project will cost some $1.3 billion.
As for the financial and economic performance, in H1 2021 Belaruskali posted growth in potash production and export year-on-year. Belaruskali produced 6.496 million tonnes of potash fertilizers, up 21.8% compared with the same stretch a year ago. In January-July 2021 the output reached 7.546 million tonnes, up 16.6% from the same period of the previous year.
Belaruskali utilized its production capacities at 100%. Since January 2021 the company has ramped up the output from 11.500 million tonnes to 13.150 million tonnes per year in physical terms.
In H1 2021, the production of mineral fertilizers surged by 21.7% year-on-year, that of potash fertilizers by 21.8%, NPK fertilizers by 12.1%, fertilizer mixtures by 28.5%.
In January-July 2021, the export of potash fertilizers increased by 10.4%, or by 655,000 tonnes, and amounted to 6.980 million tonnes. The company sold 625,000 tonnes domestically, which was up by 65.5% year-on-year.
