Deduk: Uralkali’s pullout from BPC was a preplanned move which led to chaos in potash market

MINSK, 28 August (BelTA) - Uralkali’s pullout from Belarusian Potash Company (BPC) was a preplanned move which led to chaos in the global potash market, acting Deputy Director General of Belarusian Potash Company Konstantin Deduk said in an interview to Belarus 1 TV channel.

“Looking back at what has happened it becomes clear that Uralkali’s decision had not been spontaneous. It had not been a decision driven by emotions. It was a well-orchestrated move. As a rule such splits happen to an absolutely different scenario: gradual handover of contracts and transactions so that no producer, customer, or trading company should be hurt. In this situation everything happened fast. One fine morning we just woke up to a message posted on Uralkali’s website that the Board of Directors had taken a decision to pullout from Belarusian Potash Company. No doubt it led to chaos in the global potash market. It has affected not only Belaruskali and Belarusian Potash Company but all producers worldwide,” Konstantin Deduk said.

According to him, Belarusian Potash Company was created to increase the value of exports of potash fertilizers. In other words, both companies (Belaruskali and Uralkali) were supposed to sell goods entirely through BPC. Belaruskali has complied with its obligations fully. Uralkali, unfortunately, just in part. In 2010-2011, Uralkali ramped up sales of potash fertilizers through another network, namely Uralkali Trading. “In fact, Uralkali’s employees were appointed to all key positions at BPC. Therefore, all information from the regional offices of the company, which also employed Uralkali’s specialists, went to deputy director general for sales, financial director, i.e. Russian specialists. They, in turn, could analyze it and release in portions. Now these people are facing criminal charges,” said Konstantin Deduk.

According to him, the last five ships, approximately 30,000 tonnes of potash fertilizers each, have been rewritten to Uralkali Trading. The money from the sale of these goods was credited to the account of the Swiss company, not BPC. Uralkali Trading also got the money for the fertilizers that were supposed to be sold through Belarusian Potash Company to China and Brazil. There was a case when a ship docked in the seaport of Klaipeda and waiting to be loaded was redirected to another port where it was loaded with the Russian goods. And such examples are many. All of them have been well documented and can be reviewed legally. "Thus we can state that Uralkali was prepared well in advance for this pullout. At the time of Uralkali’s withdrawal there was no money of this company on the accounts of BPC," said Konstantin Deduk.