July 2 (Bloomberg) -- OAO Uralkali, Russia’s second-largest potash producer, said it raised prices for domestic chemical producers OAO EuroChem and PhosAgro by 20 percent as demand for complex fertilizers improves.

Uralkali from yesterday started charging 4,750 rubles ($152.52) a metric ton for potassium chloride, compared with 3,955 rubles during the first six months, the Berezniki, central Russia-based company said today in an e-mailed statement. The new price is for the third quarter only and less than Uralkali charged EuroChem and PhosAgro last year.

“The improved market environment has encouraged a return in demand for complex fertilizers, thus allowing Russian producers to resume full capacity operations,” Uralkali said.

Global fertilizer consumption slumped 5.1 percent in the planting season that stretches from 2008 to 2009, according to the International Fertilizer Association. A rebound may start as early as this year, with stable crop prices encouraging farmers to boost harvests, the IFA said this week.

Russian chemical producers account for about 10 percent of Uralkali’s sales. The potash miner also sells products directly to Russian farmers and the price of those sales won’t change this year from the 3,700 rubles a ton set earlier, Uralkali said.

To contact the reporter on this story: Yuriy Humber in Moscow at yhumber@bloomberg.net.