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At the end of January, the US company MARS and K+S, extended their cooperation in the production of CATSAN® cat litter by a further ten years.

Today, the Lower Saxony State Authority for Mining, Energy and Geology (LBEG) has issued the permit for a possible resumption of the potash production at the Siegfried-Giesen site (district of Hildesheim). The potash deposit there has a high content of valuable nutrients and is particularly suitable for the production of fertilizer specialties.

On November 6, 2018, the Government Commission German Corporate Governance Code published proposals for amendments to the Code. The Board of Executive Directors and the Supervisory Board of K+S are critical of the amendments and issued a joint statement on the proposed amendments to the Code yesterday.

K+S does not expect any more wastewater-related interruptions at the three sites of the Werra plant in the first quarter of 2019. The precipitation over the past few weeks has significantly increased the water level of the Werra river again. As a result, the load on the local retention basins has been relieved to a greater extent. As of December 27 last year, production restarted as planned.

The K+S Brine Challenge is already a great success: a total of 44 ideas from 16 countries were submitted by the deadline last Wednesday. Among the contributors were scientists, companies, institutes, students and non-professionals from all over the world.

Recent rainfall has temporarily raised the water level and flow of the Werra river. Therefore, the disposal situation and the capacity of the retention basin at the Werra potash plant have improved. The production will only stop from December 24 to 26, and full production will resume at the three sites of the plant from December 27 onwards. K+S previously expected a longer production stoppage.

Despite the persistent, extreme drought, full production at the three sites of the Werra potash plant is now guaranteed up to and including December 23. The reason for this is the continuous optimization of wastewater management as well as the use of existing possibilities for off-site disposal.

Despite the persistent, extreme drought, full production at the three sites of the Werra potash plant is now guaranteed up to and including December 23. Against this background and assuming a prolonged extreme drought, disposal-related stoppages in production are now only expected to continue over the holidays until January 1. Should significant rainfall occur in the coming days, these stoppages could be further reduced.

K+S Group revenues rose by around 16 %, a significant increase in the third quarter. This was mainly due to higher sales volumes of potassium chloride from the new potash mine in Canada and higher market prices for potash and magnesium products. Higher volumes and prices in the Salt business unit also contributed to the positive sales development. The EBITDA operating result was negatively impacted by weather-related production stoppages at Plant Werra and a disproportionate increase in transportation costs and fell to € 36 million (Q3/2017: € 77 million).

Today on Friday, October 26th, numerous enterprises based in the Kassel region have set down a marker for openness to the world, diversity and tolerance. In large-sized newspaper adverts placed in the lead up to the state parliament elections in Hesse, these companies are declaring their avowal of the principles of respect and the rule of law, while launching an initiative entitled “Open to Diversity – Together against Exclusion!”.