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Deputy prime minister predicts that Belaruskali will bounce back in two to four months

It will take potash giant Belaruskali two to four months to recover from the collapse of its trade cartel with Russia’s Uralkali, Deputy Prime Minister Pyotr Prakapovich told reporters on August 31.

He expressed certainty that the state-owned company would manage to restore its exports to the normal level in the period, according to the government’s news agency BelTA.

“Constant work is underway to restore existing contacts and establish new ones,” Mr. Prakapovich said, adding that Belaruskali had already contracted to supply three million tons through a Qatari distributor.

“I am certain that soon we will have the same volumes of sales as before or even larger ones. Nothing has changed in the world; they bought potash and will continue buying it as it is key to securing a decent level of foodstuffs,” he was quoted as saying.

The deputy prime minister warned against politicizing the cartel break-up. “These are ordinary relations between two economic entities. They used to work together and have now parted. Well, now they will go their separate ways. There are enough of such examples. There is no and can be no politics here,” he said.

Belaruskali is reducing its output of potash and decreasing the wages of its employees by one-third, a deputy director general said last week.

Belaruskali's output exceeds the demand, he explained, adding that the company was using only two of its four mines at the moment.

Belaruskali exported $1,380 million worth of potash in the first seven months of 2013, 23.5 percent less than in the same period of the previous year. In terms of volume, the exports remained unchanged at 4.9 million tons.