Belaruskali’s sales to China growing
In conditions of the western sanctions, Belaruskali JSC reckons upon growing production volumes, while increasing its supplies to China – as informed by the company’s Director General, Ivan Golovaty, BelTA reports
“We are definitely working today with consideration of the external factors related to the sanctions imposed on Belarus as a whole and the enterprise in particular. Of course, it is not easy, since new tasks regularly need to be solved. However, at the same time, we ensure production in the volumes that are in demand in the market and can be supplied to our customers. In particular, since December 2021, work has been underway to ship potash fertilisers by container trains to China – and the number of trains is growing from month to month. Among other things, new packing lines are being built now to pack the product into containers and dispatch it. We plan to increase the number of container trainers to China to at least three in the near future,” Mr. Golovaty said.
According to the Director General, the operation of some mining departments is being adjusted to fit new production plans. In particular, operation schedules are being changed.
“We try to work effectively. While meeting the necessary volumes, we are also taking certain measures to work economically. Therefore, operation schedules of the mines are also changing. Importantly, we have time and opportunity to do the prescheduled shutdown maintenance. Over the past two years, the company has been working intensively, and we had no possibility to implement the projects and ideas that had already been developed and brought almost to the final since it was necessary to stop production," Mr. Golovaty noted.
As the Director General informed, the other day, the third mining department completed a major shutdown maintenance project that lasted three weeks. Much work has been done there. “We did not simply repair the equipment. As a result of modernisation, the capacity of our two lines increased by 30 percent and, in general, if we take into account the mining department, production growth reached about 10 percent,” he explained.
Repair operations have also taken place at the second mining department. “Skips have been replaced. When we commissioned the Krasnoslobodsky mine back in 2009, its design capacity made 6m tonnes. In the course of operation, it increased to 8.5m tonnes of ore per year. Taking into account these works (replacement of skips), I think the capacity might reach 10m tonnes of ore after an intensive work starts,” Mr. Golovaty said, adding, “All the works that are underway at the enterprise will result in growing production volumes in the near future.”
As informed by Belaruskali’s Director General, Belarus’ potash fertilisers are supplied to more than 130 countries. “Every market is profitable and efficient for us. Each market is unique and requires respect and an individual approach. The Belarusian Potash Company is distinguished by its respect to customers. It works to ensure maximum comfort in order to provide a full range of services related to the supply of potash fertilisers,” he concluded.
