Two of the biggest producing nations of potash — a key type of fertilizer — ended up exporting less due to trade restrictions and war. Seitz sees shipments from Belarus being at least half of those in 2021, after earlier expecting them to be down by one third to two thirds. The CEO estimates that Russia’s exports are down as much as 25%.
“The world is going to have to look to the other breadbaskets of the world to fill that supply gap for food,” he said.
A global shortage of fertilizer may seem like a distant problem to the billions of people who don’t work in agriculture. But crop nutrients are critical to growing the crops that feed the world’s growing population. Fertilizer shortages can lead to higher costs and lower yields, ultimately hitting consumers when food prices have soared.
About 60% of new production that was expected to come into the market over the next five years was in Russia and Belarus, he said,…
