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Less hope for a decrease in fertilizer prices

A global fertilizer expert says recent events have dampened his optimism for a decrease in fertilizer prices this spring.

Josh Linville with StoneX tells Brownfield up until this past week, record high fertilizer prices were starting to ease.

“We actually had been seeing fertilizer prices come off. Prices of phosphate had come off a little bit and prices of urea had come off a pretty decent chunk.”

But he says Russia’s invasion of Ukraine will likely put a halt to that, especially if multiple countries ban imports from Russia. 

“We are going to start seeing people who used to rely on product coming from Russia starting to scamper to new production points to buy up their product. We also have a decent chunk of product that comes from Russia directly, so it will affect us here in the US.”

When it comes to availability, he says the domestic labor shortage in the trucking and rail sectors is another big factor farmers and retailers should be watching.

“That is one that could surprise us. If we get to the middle of the season waiting on just in time shipments, it might take longer to get there than what we think.”

Linville says farmers need to be in constant contact with their fertilizer suppliers and lock in supplies where possible.