OREANDA-NEWS. April 15, 2011. Uralkali (Berezniki, Perm Territory) and Silvinit (Solikamsk, Perm Territory) have announced their production results for the three months ended March 31, 2011. Over that period Uralkali shipped 1.265 million tonnes of potassium chloride (KCl), which is 2% higher than in Q1 2010. Silvinit shipped approximately 1.34 million tonnes of KCl in Q1 2011, an increase of 16% on the corresponding quarter in 2010.

In December 2010, Uralkali and Silvinit announced their intention to merge to create a leader in the global potash market. The merger will create one of the largest potash companies in the world, with leading levels of production and production capacity. Moreover, it is expected that the realization of potential synergies will help the combined company to reduce further its unit costs, which will be among the lowest in the industry. Following the completion of the merger therefore, the combined company will be in a strong position to compete successfully with other players in the global potash market.

Vladislav Baumgertner, Uralkali CEO:

The first three months of this year have seen both Uralkali and Silvinit reach pre-crisis production levels. This was achieved through extensive maintenance work that the two companies carried out at their production units. In addition, in Q1 2011 Silvinit completed a project converting Shaft 3 of SKRU-3 from the extraction of sodium chloride to sylvinite ore.