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Farmers seeing elevated costs of phosphate fertilizers

The president of the Illinois Fertilizer & Chemical Association says farmers are seeing some fertilizer prices stay elevated.

Kevin Johnson tells Brownfield…

“My biggest worry if there’s anything is on the phosphates.”  He says, “Those prices have stayed a little higher. I don’t see a pullback on that.”

He says it’s due to tight global supplies.

“China, who we got a lot of our phosphates from, they have said that they usually export about 10 million tons. They’re gonna pull that back down to six or five.”  He says, “They’re keeping that product at home. But also, India uses a lot of phosphates and they haven’t really gotten into the market.”

Johnson says other fertilizer supplies heading into fall are looking good…so far.

“As long as there’s no Canadian rail shut down or anything like that with the potash.”  He says, “Because about 90% of the potash that comes into the Midwest is coming out of Canada.”

Johnson says the industry is expecting some cutback to fertilizer purchases this fall due to lower commodity prices.

AUDIO: KJ Johnson – IL Fertilizer & Chemical Association