OREANDA-NEWS. Consistent with PotashCorp's practice of matching supply with demand, we developed a 2013 sales forecast and production plan for our potash facilities which would require curtailments over the course of the year. Our present intention is to achieve these curtailments through the use of maintenance shutdowns, including extended shutdowns as necessary, and running at reduced operating rates across our system without completely shutting down facilities and laying off workers as we have done in the past. This approach not only will be less disruptive to our employees and the communities in which we operate but maintaining a full and engaged workforce is expected to provide us the ability to respond quickly to changes in demand.

PotashCorp's annual operational capability estimate of 12.4 million tonnes factors in regular maintenance shutdowns.

Maintenance downtime - consistent with our regular annual maintenance practices, we intend to take 3 to 4 weeks at each of our facilities during the quarter:

Allan - July 7 to August 3

Cory - July 14 to August 10

Lanigan - August 4 to August 31

New Brunswick - July 28 to August 17

Rocanville - July 14 to August 10

Additional shutdowns - in addition to the 16 shutdown weeks taken during the first quarter, our Cory facility will extend its regular maintenance shutdown by 6 weeks from August 11 to September 21.

Reduced operating rates - operating levels at Lanigan were reduced during the second quarter. We expect to operate both our Lanigan and Rocanville facilities at reduced rates for the balance of the year.