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Spring fertilizer outlook: TFI assesses product availability and blocked trade route impacts

Most phosphate fertilizer supplies have reached the U.S. for spring planting, but some products could face availability risks amid escalating tensions in the Middle East.

Veronica Nigh with the Fertilizer Institute tells Brownfield supplies of ammonium phosphate fertilizers like DAP are on hand for many American manufacturers, but MAP supply chains could be impacted by Iran’s closure of the Strait of Hormuz.

“I think the expectation was that MAP was really going to be what was coming in April and May, so the longer the Strait of Hormuz is closed, the bigger the pinch is going to be on the MAP market,” she says.

As for Urea, she says, “We’re getting a little bit of product from countries that are not in that disputed area, but a lot of is tied up there.”

Nigh says most nitrogen is produced domestically and should be available for farmers, but it will come with a higher price tag, with blocked passage through Iran pressuring the global market.