Tel Aviv District Court Judge Kobi Vardi has ordered Israel Chemicals Ltd. (TASE: ICL) to resume potash deliversies to Haifa Chemicals Ltd. at $300 per ton, as stipulated in their agreements reached in May, which was mediated by Knesset Finance Committee chairman MK Moshe Gafni (United Torah Judaism).
Judge Vardi also ordered the two companies to resume the arbitration that is also stipulated in their agreement. District Court Judge Emeritus Boaz Okun is the arbitrator.
Sources inform ''Globes'' that Judge Vardi told Israel Chemicals, "You have an agreement and I'm going to issue an execution order. I suggest that you reach an agreement on the main case." The main case in question is the arbitration of the company's dispute with Haifa Chemicals. During a court recess, the parties agreed to resume the arbitration.
Israel Chemicals requested that Haifa Chemicals not seek the intervention of the Ministry of Industry, Trade and Labor Supervisor of Prices to renew price controls on potash. Haifa Chemicals already asked for the price controls to be reinstated several months ago. The company will now not pursue this action, but a company officer said that the Supervisor of Prices was now handling the issue, which was not in the interests of any party. "It is a regulator with the duty to act on behalf of Israel's residents," said the officer.
Israel Chemicals recently signed a contract with an Indian customer for the sale of 750,000 tons of potash at $460 per ton. The previous contract, which expired in April, was at $625 per ton.
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on July 27, 2009
© Copyright of Globes Publisher Itonut (1983) Ltd. 2009