The Tessenderlo Group, Brussels, told analysts in its March 24 earnings call that it is looking for alternative supplies of potash to use in making its sulfate of potash (SOP) due to the sanctions on Russia and Belarus. While the company would not give details on how much potash it requires, Chairman and CFO Stefan Haspeslagh said, “I can tell you we are quite dependent on these markets.”
The company said it sources potash from Russia, Belarus, and other countries for the SOP produced at its Tessenderlo Kerley Ham plant in Belgium. It said the group is in the process of reviewing its sourcing mix, and it is therefore currently not possible to determine what the effect on the production would be – if any – although no significant impact is expected in first-half 2022. At present, it said it is also difficult to estimate the impact on the other activities of the group.
Tessenderlo’s SOP capacity is believed to be approximately 600,000 mt/y, according to Green Markets.
Haspeslagh told analysts the company currently has a crisis team working to organize the sourcing and to see how the company can evolve a solution. “At present, there is not an immediate risk of having to close our factories,” he said. “So we are working on potential solutions on the short, medium and long term.”
He said it is quite difficult to see what the real impact will be, because the company has to look for alternative supply in the market, “whereby 24 million mt of MOP has been blocked in a total market of 70 million mt of MOP. So it’s quite a stressed situation right now in the MOP market, which is the raw material that we convert into SOP.”