Potash Corp. Rivals Seen Following With Cuts - Bloomberg

Potash Corp. Rivals Seen Following With Cuts - Bloomberg

Potash Corp. of Saskatchewan Inc.’s decision to cut 18 percent of its workforce and reduce capacity probably foreshadows similar actions by North American rivals amid a price war in the $20 billion global potash market.
The potash industry has been in turmoil since the end of July when Russia’s OAO Uralkali, which produced more of the crop nutrient last year than any other company, quit a sales accord with its Belarusian competitor. Uralkali’s strategy now is to raise output to gain a bigger market share. That’s spurred some customers to defer purchases in anticipation of lower prices.
Potash Corp. said yesterday in a statement its inventories and remaining capacity will allow it to supply more than 10 million tons of potash in 2014. Its previous forecast was for capacity of 13 million tons next year.
“We don’t believe this changes the prevailing outlook for lower potash pricing and high competition among the producers of Canpotex, Russia, Belarus,” Matthew Korn, a New York-based analyst at Barclays Plc, said yesterday in a note.