Fertilizer prices to be liberalized when Russia is WTO member - FAS chief
MOSCOW. Jan 17 (Interfax) - When it becomes a member of the World Trade Organization, Russia will have to do away with industrial subsidies for all kinds of fertilizer within the country and move to pricing based on world prices, head of Russia's Federal Antimonopoly Service (FAS) Igor Artemyev told reporters.
"We today have industrial subsidies within the entire system excepting potassium, where last year there was liberalization, that's a fact. The WTO forbids such subsidization. We need to understand what we will be doing with phosphate and nitrogen fertilizers, what we will be doing with sulphur and with other raw-material components, since there will be liberalization according to WTO standards," Artemyev said.
The FAS is now studying how fertilizer will be priced after Russia's accession to the WTO, he said. "We are studying that question now. It means that we, roughly speaking, will have to move to a level of recalculation at world prices. It is completely possible," he said.
According to marketing policy coordinated with the FAS, Uralkali , Russia's sole potash producer, the potassium price for Russian producers of compound fertilizers and industrial consumers is set based on the average weighted price for potassium chloride sold on abroad with a minimum price excluding transport and other logistical costs. To stimulate the delivery of potassium-containing fertilizers on the domestic market, the marketing policy involves offering a premium to producers of compound fertilizers on the amount of potassium chloride present in the fertilizer put on the Russian market.