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Temporary closure of PotashCorp’s Lanigan mine not rattling predicated boom in future exports

Aug 17, 2012 | 8:31 AM

Two very different pictures of potash have emerged in the province recently.

First the Saskatchewan Trade and Export Partnership analysis of numbers from Statistics Canada shows the province’s exports, including potash, could double in the next decade, but then PotashCorp has announced it is again temporarily shutting down its Lanigan mine because potash demand is in a slump.

“We have a long standing history of matching our supply to market demand and right now there’s a little bit of inventory in the system and as a result we don’t need to produce fully,” said Bill Johnson, senior director of public affairs with PotashCorp.

An option of producing potash and banking it for future demand is difficult because of how it has to be stored.

“You produce the potash and potash is something that can’t be stored outside so it has to be stored in controlled conditions, so you don’t want to have too much inventory around because you could have a little bit of product deterioration,” said Johnson.

He said until markets and farmers around the world indicate how much fertilizer they'll need, the company just doesn't need to produce potash at full speed.

The current abundance of potash in inventory isn’t expected to change future export predictions.

“It’s a bit of a slow season right now. We’re in between the spring application and the fall application,” said Johnson.

The Lanigan mine was already been shut down for two months at the beginning of this year.

Two other mines, Rocanville and Allan, were also were also temporarily closed due to a slump in demand.

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