OREANDA-NEWS. January 10, 2013. Russian fertilizer producer Uralkali is still interested in the purchase of Belarus potash giant Belaruskali, but it believes the deal is not possible given the current circumstances, CEO Vladislav Baumgertner said.

“Belaruskali is still potentially interesting in terms of a deal. But now and in the current circumstances we do not believe the deal is possible,” he told Rossiya 24 television channel in an interview.

According to Baumgertner, the company is non-transparent as the taxation regime in Belarus can be changed any time.

He said that Uralkali, the world's largest potash miner by output and the second biggest potash producer by capacity behind Canada's Potash Corp of Saskatchewan, would only like to acquire a controlling stake in Belaruskali, but Belarusian authorities said earlier that they will keep the controlling stake.

The main shareholder of Uralkali, Suleiman Kerimov, has said that the USD 30 billion price tag named by the Belarus government was too high.