OREANDA-NEWS. November 14, 2011. Belarus’ President Alexander Lukashenko signed ordinance #482 of October 24, 2011 to designate the Belarusian Potash Company (BPC) the exclusive exporter of potash fertilizer.

The government’s monopoly on the export of mineral and chemical fertilizer shall be secured by OJSC Belaruskali and CJSC BPC, the ordinance says. The ordinance introduced a new distribution of functions: Belaruskali shall be responsible for shipping potash fertilizer overseas, while BPC will take care of overseas sales.

By this token, BPC is stripped of its exclusive right to export mineral and chemical fertilizers produced by OJSC Grodno Azot.

Market experts say, Grodno Azot sells most of its products on the domestic market, which may be one of the reasons why the president chose to deprive BPC of the exclusive right to export Grodno-produced fertilizers. Before the exclusive right was introduced in November 2010, Grodno Azot had successfully dealt with fertilizer exports.

Furthermore, the ordinance cancels the preference, which made it possible for Belarus-based companies to trade in fertilizers on the home market for foreign exchange.

Established in April 2005, Joint Stock Company “Belarusian Potash Company” (BPC) the sole exporter of potassium fertilizers produced by Belaruskali and Uralkali.

The BPC shareholding structure includes Belaruskali with 45%, Belarusian Railways (5%) and Russia’s Uralkali with 50%.

At the moment, BPC controls 42% of the world’s potash fertilizer market.