Vale’s Massive Rio Colorado Potash Project Will Leave Room For Smaller Projects

Mineweb reported that Vale decided to go ahead with the $6 billion Rio Colorado potash project in Argentina, to feed the fertilizer hungry Brazilian markets, despite fears that the massive scale of the project will negatively impact smaller scale projects in the region.

As quoted in the report:

Assuming three other potash projects in the region also come online – Verde Potash’s Cerrado Verde, Rio Verde’s Sergipe and Vale’s Carnalita – total demand in Brazil would still outstrip supply and then some.

Mackie Research analyst Jaret Anderson commented:

Bottom line: Even if all of these projects are built and all of the output went to Brazil (it won’t – potash consumption in Latin America ex-Brazil was approximately 2 million tonnes last year), Brazil will still be short potash in our view.

Click here to read the full MineWeb report.