JERUSALEM, Aug 6 (Reuters) - Israeli potash and

speciality chemicals producer ICL Group on Wednesday

reported a dip in second-quarter profit, weighed down partly by

workers serving as military reserves, and said it faced minimal

impact from U.S. tariffs.

ICL said it earned an adjusted 9 cents per diluted

share, versus 10 cents a year earlier. Sales rose to $1.83

billion from $1.75 billion.

Potash sales dipped to $383 million from $422 million, with

ICL citing lower production at its Dead Sea facility "due to

operational challenges primarily related to ongoing (Gaza)

war-related issues, the annual maintenance shutdown, and a brief

period of regional unrest in June."

Still, ICL reached new potash supply deals with key

customers China and India during June. Potash prices have risen

over the past year.

CEO Elad Aharonson said 22 months of conflict had seen

hundreds of workers serving in reserve military duty.

"We are doing a great effort in order to cover them and back

them up. But at the end of the day, it has some influence on

maintenance, preventive maintenance," he told Reuters.

"And after more than 20 months, you start to see a bit of

the impact of those many people that are in reserve duty."

ICL has also had to move shipments to Asia to the Ashdod

port from the Eilat port, which has since closed, and that has

added extra costs, he added.

On U.S. tariffs, potash is exempt. But ICL also has a number

of U.S. production sites, as well as in Europe.

"We are well prepared for this (deglobalisation) trend,

because we are very, very global by nature and we serve most of

our end markets locally," Aharonson said.

Future growth will mainly be driven by speciality

fertilisers and crop nutrition products, he said.

Sales of industrial products such as flame retardants,

bromine and speciality minerals edged higher in the quarter,

while phosphate sales rose to $637 million from $572 million.

ICL declared a quarterly dividend of 4.26 cents per share,

down from 4.88 cents a year ago.