Russia-focused fertiliser producer Eurochem plans to become a major potash market player by 2020 with a production capacity of 2 million tonnes, its Chief Financial Officer Andrey Ilyin told Reuters. Swiss-based Eurochem, owned by Russian businessman Andrei Melnichenko, produced the first potash from its new $2 billion plant in Russia in March and plans to launch another plant later this year.

The project may intensify competition among suppliers of the crop nutrient in the region, traditionally dominated by Russian producer Uralkali and Belarusian miner Belaruskali. Privately-held Eurochem, one of the world's largest producers of nitrogen-based fertilisers, plans to produce between 1 million and 2 million tonnes of potash in 2019, up from 500,000-600,000 tonnes in 2018, Ilyin said.

Copyright Reuters, 2019