Leading fertiliser companies are hoping that a sales deal between China’s Sinofert and Canpotex will spur new agreements in potash, which had stalled at the end of last year.

Canpotex, which sells potash outside North America on behalf of Canada-based PotashCorp and Agrium, and the US-based Mosaic, at the end of December announced it had agreed to sell 1m tonnes of potash to state-owned Sinofert at $70 a tonne lower than the $470 per tonne agreement in March 2012.

The 15 per cent fall in the price comes after negotiations between suppliers and China and India, the two leading buyers of the key agricultural nutrient, had dragged on during the latter half of 2012, partly due to high prices, and in India’s case, because of a cut in government subsidies.