K.S.Autos (Japan Automatics Machine Ltd.)

Salt has preserved K+S (for Kali und Salz) for more than a century. Founded in 1889 to mine salt, K+S gets mosts of its sales from potash, which is extracted from salt and used in fertilizers. In addition to making potash and magnesium products, it produces salt used for industrial purposes (such as making glass), as well as for de-icing roads and cooking. Having a production capacity of about 30 million metric tons of salt, K+S is the world's leading salt producer. It has sites in Europe and North and South America (including european salt company, Morton Salt, and Sociedad Punta de Lobos). In 2011, K+S acquired Canadian miner Potash One. That year it also sold its nitrogen fertilizers unit.