Potash ores market

Potash ore is the primary source for manufacturing potash, which is used in chemicals and fertilizers. Generally, it consists of potassium chloride, sodium chloride, silicate anhydrate, and carbonate. Potash ore is processed with various methods including chemical processes with hot leaching, and mechanical methods such as floatation. In the chemical method, potash ore is processed by hot leaching with crystallization potash salts from unsaturated salt brines. Furthermore, in floatation method halite and sylvite surfaces are moistened with water by the addition of acting chemicals namely surfactants. Potash finds major applications in fertilizers industry as potassium the third major plant and crop nutrient after phosphorus and nitrogen. As elemental potassium is not available in nature due to its violent reactive nature with water, potash ores have high demand.

Market Outlook

Global potash ores market size is projected to increase during the forecast period (2019-2027), owing to increasing demand for potassium from various industries around the world. Increasing demand for potash ore from the fertilizer industry is expected to support growth of the market in the near future. This demand is attributed to increasing demand for organic food and growing population around the world. Potash is an important nutrient for crops, which improves the yield and quality. Hence, this is expected to drive the market growth. Furthermore, increasing demand for sodium chloride from various industries is expected to increase the demand for potash ores and subsequently support the market growth. Sodium chloride has witnessed increasing demand from chemical industry for the production of caustic soda, sodium chloride, etc. Moreover, it is also used for the product in fish preservation.

However, increasing health concerns regarding consumption of potash fertilizers is expected to restrain the global potash ores market growth. Moreover, fluctuating prices of potassium chloride are also expected to hamper the market growth during the forecast period. Furthermore, increasing the use of potash mobilizing biofertilizers is expected to pose excellent growth opportunities for market players.

Market Regional Analysis

North America along with Europe is projected to gain the largest market share in the global potash ores market. This gain is attributed to largest consumer of organic food in regions. Furthermore, Asia Pacific is also projected to witness significant growth during the forecast period, owing to rising disposable incomes and growing trend towards healthy food. Moreover, increasing demand for food from emerging economies such as India and China is expected to support the market growth in the region.

Market Players

Key players operating in the global potash ores market include Israel Chemicals Ltd., PotashCorp, Uralkali, Agrium Inc., and K+S GmbH. 

Key Developments

Major players operating in the market are adopting several strategies such as mergers & acquisitions and marketing & promotional activities through attending seminars or exhibitions in order to maintain their position in the competitive business environment.

For instance, in February 2017, EvoEvogene Ltd., one of the leading companies engaged in the improvement of crop productivity and ICL Innovation, a subsidiary of ICL, entered into an R& D collaboration to produce crop enhancers in order to improve the nutrient use efficiency in certain crops

In June 2017, Potash Corporation, based in Saskatchewan, Canada, one of the world’s leading producer of fertilizer by capacity, announced the collaboration with Agrium to form Nutrien. Nutrien aims to become second leading producer of nitrogen fertilizer with operations in more than 18 countries with 20,000 employees globally.

In November 2019, Dmitry Osipov represented Uralkali, one of the leading potash producers in business program of the XII International Conference “Mineral Fertilizers-2019”.