OREANDA-NEWS. June 30, 2010. The State Property Committee of Belarus has completed stock-taking and evaluation of assets at Belaruskali, the country’s only producer of potash fertilizers, before a potential transformation into a joint-stock company, the director of the State Property Fund with the Committee, Natalya Zhernosek, told.

“Stock-taking and asset valuation have been completed,” Zhernosek said without specifying the sum. She noted that the size of the charter capital of the producer was “unprecedented”.

She added with reference to a bill that passed its second read in the lower house that extraction of potassium ore and production of fertilizers were excluded from the lists of entities in exclusive ownership of the state and types of activities that may be performed exclusively by state.

According to Zhernosek, the bill will enable the state to make a decision on transformation of Belaruskali into a joint-stock company after it has been approved by the upper house and inked by the president.

“The decision on the transformation does not mean immediate privatization of the producer,” she said. “We are not talking about the privatization of the organization. But I guess you have no questions about our efforts to upgrade the enterprise, its legal organization, to market relations.”

Belaruskali is one of the largest potash makers in the world, employing about 20,000 personnel. Belaruskali accounts for 15.3% of the world potash production.