Potash global price war looms as Belarus muscles in

Moscow

THE potash industry, which provides the potassium used to grow bigger fruits and vegetables worldwide, is facing a global price war as Belarus seeks to strengthen its share of the US$20 billion market.

The Eastern European country, which supplied 20 per cent of global exports last year, is running mines at almost full capacity to gain a foothold in the US and in China, at a time when the Asian nation is in talks with other providers of the plant nutrient, analysts and competitors say.