US potash market hits bottom, begins recovery - Intrepid Potash

06 November 2009 17:34  [Source: ICIS news]

HOUSTON (ICIS news)--The US potash market has bottomed out and is beginning to show signs of recovery, Colorado-based potash miner Intrepid Potash said on Friday.

“We have begun to see some initial hopeful signs that selective buyers are returning to the market as dealer-owned inventories appear to be at low levels,” Intrepid chief executive Robert Jornayvaz said during a call with analysts.

Although the dealer and retail supply chain had reduced inventories, Intrepid continued to see broad buyer hesitation, Jornayvaz said.

Both dealers and farmers were employing just-in-time buying for their fertilizer, he said.

Intrepid sold 101,000 tonnes of potash in the third quarter at an average price of $505/tonne (€338/tonne), compared with 181,000 tonnes at $687/tonne in the same quarter of 2008.

“The decrease in sales this quarter, as compared to 2008, resulted from slower sales of granular potash as growers continued to defer applications due to a later than normal fall harvest in most of our core markets,” Jornayvaz said.

($1 = €0.67)

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By: Frank Zaworski
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