What OPEC+ is to the oil market, Belarus and Russia are to the potash market

The War in Ukraine and the Imminent Impact on Food Supplies… What You Need To Know https://t.co/aQYoKxbIrX

— Mike Walgenbach (@mwalgen44) April 25, 2022

Our current globally integrated food supply system and mass food production cannot exist without, among other things, fertilizer.

This includes three main categories: nitrogen, potash, and phosphorus fertilizers. Potash is a potassium-rich salt fertilizer that enhances plant quality and is responsible for 20% of global fertilizer demand.

Together with Belarus, Russia has a 40% market share in global production and export of potash fertilizer. What OPEC+ is to the oil market, Belarus and Russia are to the potash market. The two monopolies in this space are Uralkali and Belaruskali, with the Belarusian Potash Company being the latter’s export arm.

With 16.5% of the nitrogen fertilizer market, Russia may not appear to be that dominant until we look at the key ingredient (ammonium nitrate) and then we realize… oh, yes it is. Why? Russia holds a whopping 66% of the global market share in the production of this chemical, and without it there’s no nitrogen fertilizer.

. . . 

Through the company Uralchem, Russia provides ammonia to Morocco, and Morocco, as it turns out, is the largest phosphate fertilizer producer in the world with 75% of phosphate reserves.