Aleksandr Lukashenko meets with Andrei Kobyakov and Valery Ivanov

On 4 February President of the Republic of Belarus Aleksandr Lukashenko met with Head of the Belarus President Administration Andrei Kobyakov and Director General of Belarusian Potash Company Valery Ivanov to receive their reports.

“We will discuss sea shipping of cargo in a broad sense of the word, and more specifically, the shipment of our potash fertilizers to destination ports,” the head of state said.

Aleksandr Lukashenko noted that he knows about the conclusions the government arrived at while discussing the matter. “However, I cannot understand some points, in particular, a point implying that if we transport cargo on our own, we will not be able to save anything. In other words, the government says that if we use our own vehicles or vessels, this is going to be even more expensive than using somebody else’s transport. I cannot understand it. Everything depends on us. If we have commodities in our hands, a vehicle or a vessel, we will manage it. How can this option be less profitable compared to cooperation with other companies? I cannot understand it altogether,” the President said.

The head of state paid attention to the fact that being an export-oriented country Belarus transports dozens of millions of tonnes of cargo. “Not everything is transported by rail or road. I think, a third or a fourth part of our cargo is embarked. This translates into dozens of millions of tonnes. We could earn good money on it, I think,” the President said.

Top on the agenda was the state of things at Belarusian Potash Company and the situation on the potash market. According to Valery Ivanov, the situation on the potash market has stabilized. Belarus signed a contract to supply 1 million tonnes of potash fertilizers to China, held talks with Brazilian partners and is set to sign a contract to supply another 1 million tonnes of potash fertilizers to India.

Valery Ivanov noted that in January 2013 the company sold more potash fertilizers than in January last year. The company’s performance in H1 2013 is expected to be much better compared to the one in the same period in 2012.