The Dead Sea Works management recently decided to cancel the joint project it was planning to set up in co-operation with Alchim of Turkey. Examinations conducted in recent months showed the project to be uneconomic even though the pilot plant established by the two companies in Turkey proved itself in production and processing terms.
Three years ago, DSW and Alchim inaugurated a pilot plant for the manufacture of potassium sulphate and sodium sulphate at an initial investment of $5 million. The plant was established as a joint venture next to the Alchim factory in Antalya.
The companies resolved on the joint set-up of the project after the research company of Israel Chemicals developed a unique manufacturing process. The pilot plant was designed and built by the Baran group of Beer Sheba, jointly with DSW’s engineers. Following the success of the manufacturing process at the pilot plant, the two companies signed an agreement in principle to set up a joint plant at an investment of $50 million.
Some months after the agreement in principle was signed, the Turkish company decided, in view of the rising prices of sodium sulphate on the world market, not to implement the agreement, but to set up the project on its own. DSW dismantled the pilot plant and returned it to Israel.
Recently, Alchim decided to resume negotiations with DSW. Following negotiations lasting several months, DSW conducted a new technical-economic examination on the project, and took a decision not to set it up, as being uneconomic. This is due to the high cost of transporting potash from the plant at Sedom to the projected plant in Turkey.
Published by Israel's Business Arena August 31, 1998