The potassium chloride in China is mainly dependent on import from other countries. According to China Customs, the potassium chloride import to China in the first six months of 2019 reached 5.43 million tons with the import value totaled at 1.59 billion USD, seeing a year-on-year growth of 22.2% and 52.4% respectively.

In June 2019, China has imported 608,961.47 MT potassium chloride. Canada, Belarus and Russia are still the top three potassium chloride suppliers, accounting for 36.2%, 29% and 16.6% respectively in China’s import in June.  

(Data Source: China Customs)

According to historical data, the potassium chloride import in H1 2019 hit the peak record. Looking back a few years, imports in the first half were typically around 3.6-3.8 million tons, while in 2010 the whole year import was only 5.24 million tons.

The high import volume and the depressing market has led to huge port stock. At the end of June, the amount of potassium chloride in the port was nearly 3 million tons, which was a significant historical high.

In the last twelve months, both the import quantity and the value of potassium chloride in China have presented a negative growth in the first five months, and a significant growth in the second half. In January 2019, the import quantity rose to 1.08 million MT and value reached 312.8 million USD, both hitting the peak record.

(Data Source: China Customs)

(Data Source: China Customs)

In terms of domestic potassium production, Qinghai produced nearly 3 million tons of potassium chloride in the first half of this year. Though it was expected the annual output may be kept at 6.5 million tons in 2019, there are still possibilities to increase the output.

Due to the weak demand and declining consumption, the import of potassium chloride in the second half may decrease accordingly, or else it may add burden to the market in the next year.