We use cookies to provide you with a better experience. By continuing to browse the site you are agreeing to our use of cookies in accordance with our Privacy Terms and Cookie Policy
Balanced Reporting. Trusted Insights.
Thursday, April 03, 2025
The White House issued an executive order to boost domestic production of a slate of minerals – including potash – but an industry analyst thinks the efforts are misplaced.
The fertilizer industry and a raft of farm groups are backing legislation that would add phosphate and potash to the list of minerals considered “critical” to the national security of the United States, arguing that too much of the world’s reserves of the vital crop inputs is located outside the country and vulnerable to supply shocks.
Strong global demand for agricultural commodities will put more pressure on limited phosphate and potash supplies and strengthen fertilizer prices in 2024, Mosaic CEO Joc O’Rourke said Wednesday.
The Commerce Department is sharply cutting its duty on Moroccan phosphate fertilizer products to just 2.12%, spurring optimism that imports will resume and provide American farmers with more supply options and better prices.
A bipartisan group of lawmakers is following the lead of some of the nation's most influential farm groups, which banded together earlier this month to ask the Commerce Department to reduce or eliminate the duty on key imports of phosphate fertilizers from Morocco.
Dozens of national and state agricultural groups are beseeching the Biden administration to consider high fertilizer costs that are weighing down farmers as the International Trade Commission and Commerce Department weigh their options on continuing to levy duties on imports of Moroccan phosphate products.
A key Moroccan fertilizer company, bolstered by rising calls from farmers and lawmakers for more supplies of imported phosphate products, sees a pathway back to the U.S. market potentially in time for spring application season.
Eleven farm-state Republican lawmakers from the Senate and House are asking the Commerce Department to reverse a preliminary decision that would significantly raise the countervailing duty on Russian phosphate fertilizer.
Fertilizer prices may yet experience more volatility in Europe and South America, but the situation has mostly stabilized in the U.S., where fall applications will be relatively normal, says Ken Seitz, president and CEO of Nutrien, a major producer of potash, nitrogen and phosphate products.
In this opinion piece, Rep. Dan Newhouse, R-Wash., and Corey Rosenbusch of the Fertilizer Institute discuss the need to designate phosphate and potash as critical minerals.
