A bipartisan group of eight U.S. Representatives on July 16 introduced legislation in the U.S. House that moves to reinforce U.S. sanctions against Belarus. The legislation would designate Belaruskali, the Belarus state-owned potash company, and it’s trading company, Belarusian Potash Co., as Specially Designated Nationals (SDN), making them subject to U.S. sanctions.
U.S. sanctions were first imposed against Belarus in 2006, and the Belneftekhim Concern, a large, state-owned petrochemical conglomerate, was named as an SDN in 2007. U.S. businesses, citizens, and green card holders are prohibited from doing business with sanctioned entities, and until 2014, Belaruskali was part of the Belneftekhim Concern and had ceased exports of potash under the sanctions.
In February 2014, however, Belarus President Alexander Lukashenka’s government performed a corporate restructuring, moving Belaruskali out from under the Belneftekhim umbrella. As a result, Belarus began shipping potash to the U.S., as Green Markets reported earlier this year.
According to industry sources, the “Belarus Democracy and Sanctions Enforcement Act of 2015” aims to crack down on Belaruskali’s evasion of U.S. sanctions and specifically names the Joint Stock Company Belaruskali and the Joint Stock Company Belarusian Potash Company on the list of SDNs.
The bill is co-sponsored by Reps. Steve Pearce (R-N.M.), Ben Lujan (D-N.M.), Michelle Lujan Grisham (D-N.M.), Mike Coffman (R-Colo.), Chris Stewart (R-Utah), Bradley Byrne (R-Ala.), Martha Roby (R-Ala.) and Doug Collins (R-Ga.).
Belaruskali has nameplate potash capacity of ~10.7 million mt, which is ~13 percent of global capacity, according to the Green Markets Potash Supply & Demand Model.