Potash

In a significant step towards ensuring long-term fertiliser availability for the farming community, India’s fertiliser companies- Coromandel International, Chambal Fertilisers and Indian Potash Limited signed an MoU with Canpotex, Canada on 27th September 2022.

Details –

• Potash, which is source of Potassium, is used both for direct application as Muriate of Potash (MOP) as well as in combination with ‘N’ & ‘P’ nutrients in NPK fertilisers.
• India meets 100% of its Potash requirement through imports. The country imports approximately 40 LMT MOP annually.
• Canpotex is a joint venture between leading fertiliser players, Mosaic and Nutrien, and markets Potash being produced at Saskatchewan region in Canada.
• It is amongst the largest suppliers of Potash globally, exporting around 130 LMT of product annually to more than 40 countries and has been one of the suppliers to India.

About Potash –

• Potash includes various mined and manufactured salts that contain potassium in water-soluble form.
• The name derives from pot ash, which refers to plant ashes or wood ash soaked in water in a pot, which was the primary means of manufacturing the product before the Industrial Era.
• Potash is produced worldwide in amounts exceeding 90 million tonnes (40 million tonnes K2O equivalent) per year, mostly for use in fertiliser.
• Potassium was first derived in 1807 by electrolysis of caustic potash (potassium hydroxide).
• Most of the world’s potash comes from Canada, with the largest deposits located in Saskatchewan and New Brunswick. Four countries (Canada, Belarus, Russia and China) accounted for 80% of the world’s potash production in 2019.
• Today, potash comes from either underground or solution mining.
• In India, few deposits of potash mineral are reported from Sidhi district of Madhya Pradesh, Sonbhadra district of Uttar Pradesh, Kaimur district of Bihar and Sawai Madhopur and Karauli districts of Rajasthan.
• It is in the form of Glauconitic (a potassium bearing green mica) sandstone.
• Potassium is an important element of the human diet as it is essential for growth and the maintenance of tissues, muscles and organs, as well as the electrical activity of the heart.