The market for potassium sulphate, also known as sulphate of potash (SOP), has been historically growing at an average rate of about 2% per year. The current demand for this type of fertilizer has been on the rise due to its role in plant nutrition and rather attractive profitability margins. Potassium sulphate is particularly important when chloride addition should be avoided in case of chloride-sensitive crops or when farmers encounter with the deficiency of sulphur, an indispensable macro nutrient.
In the modern world, environmental and sustainability concerns are pivotal. Therefore, companies, like Compass Minerals, (headquartered in the Kansas City, US), are prone to offering systemic solutions to nutritional issues rather than relying on a range of specific products. Compass Minerals produces sulphate of potash from the pond-based feedstock at the Great Salt Lake facility in Ogden, Utah (which was acquired from Great Salt Lake Corp. in 1993). Then the company sells sulphate of potash under the name of Protassium+. Guided by the considerations of fertilizer efficiency, as well as research and development, Compass Minerals deliver on the 4Rs (right time, right rate, right source, and right place).
Major potassium sulphate manufacturers
Climatic and weather conditions and their changes, the specifics of targeted soils and crops, the quality of products, socioeconomic factors, the availability of knowledge-raising programmes – all these affect the market for potassium sulphate at the increasing rate.
The attractiveness of the potassium sulphate market opens up a possibility for the appearance of new players on the market. For instance, Belaruskali, a major Belarusian producer of potassium chloride, and Migao Corporation, a key Chinese manufacturer of potassium sulphate, launched a joint potassium nitrate facility in Soligorsk, Belarus, in November 2019. This facility plans to manufacture potassium sulphate as well, when its next stage of expansion is realised in the near future.
More information on the global potassium sulphate (SOP) market can be found in the in-demand research report “Potassium Sulphate (SOP): 2019 World Market Outlook and Forecast up to 2028”.