US will receive a shipment of Belarusian fertilizer after sanctions against Minsk are eased - FT

The first shipment of Belarusian potash fertilizers to the United States in four years is expected to arrive at the Port of New Orleans in October, amid Washington's gradual easing of sanctions against Belarus's potash industry. This is reported by Financial Times, according to UNN.

Details

"According to the pricing agency Argus, on September 15, Belaruskali loaded 30,000 tonnes of granular muriate of potash (MOP) onto a vessel owned by a company from the Marshall Islands at the Russian port of Bronka (St. Petersburg). According to vessel-tracking data from the commodity platform Kpler, unloading is scheduled to take place at the Port of New Orleans (Louisiana) on October 14," the publication writes.

According to the publication, this will be the first shipment sent to the United States after sanctions against Belarus's potash industry were eased as part of a broader agreement concerning the release of political prisoners. The United States imposed sanctions in 2021 after Belarusian ruler alexander lukashenko brutally suppressed pro-democracy protests the previous year.

At the same time, according to available data, between 2017 and 2021, belarus exported an average of 635,000 tonnes of potash fertilizers to the United States every year. These fertilizers are widely used to enrich soil with potassium and increase the yields of agricultural crops.

"The availability of fertilizers on the global market has declined substantially because of the conflict in the Middle East, which effectively blocked the Strait of Hormuz. Although more and more oil tankers are using this route, lured by record freight rates, the profitability of transporting other goods is insufficient to compensate for the potential risk of an attack by Iran," the publication writes.

As noted, in September, President Donald Trump said that the United States was working on a "large-scale deal" to purchase fertilizers from belarus. Almost 80% of potash fertilizer imports into the United States come from Canada. He claimed that such imports would cost "significantly less" than purchases from Canada, which is engaged in a trade conflict with Washington.

At the same time, analysts believe that belarus is nevertheless unlikely to substantially increase supplies to the United States in the near term or compete with Canadian prices.

"The main reason for Trump's large-scale deal on potash fertilizers is to reassure his electorate ahead of the midterm elections, as well as to reassure the Belarusian side," believes Balazs Jarabik, a partner at the analytical firm R Politik.

"The shipment of Belarusian potash fertilizers accounts for only a small share of the 5.6 million tonnes of this product imported by the United States last year. Nevertheless, it indicates a cautious warming of relations between the United States and belarus—a country that has found itself internationally isolated because of its brutal suppression of dissent and its assistance to russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022," the publication writes.

Recall

U.S. President Donald Trump stated that Washington was working on a large-scale deal to purchase potash fertilizers from belarus. The specific parameters of the future deal have not yet been announced.