Nutrien, Mosaic squeezed as farmers cut fertilizer use after prices surge

Mosaic

06/08/2026 18:17

Nutrien says nitrogen sales volumes fall more than 25% in second quarter
Mosaic says high spot sulfur prices could cut global phosphate production by 30 million tons
Nutrien says potash demand remains strong as farmers view it as most affordable fertilizer
By Ed White
WINNIPEG, Manitoba, Aug 6 (Reuters) - Nutrien NTR.TO and The Mosaic Company MOS.N face challenges as farmers cut back on fertilizer due to high prices, the companies said in earnings discussions this week.
The drop in farmer demand highlights the widespread fallout of the Iran war, which has strangled a significant proportion of export supplies and caused prices to surge. Some farmers around the world are being pushed into financial difficulty because of the high prices.
Nutrien, the world's largest potash producer, reported lower-than-expected second-quarter profits on Wednesday due to a decline in nitrogen and potash fertilizer sales volumes, although higher prices cushioned the blows. Nitrogen sales volumes fell more than 25%. Phosphate is a small part of Nutrien's production mix and overall sales.
"We expect we'll continue to see demand destruction as it relates to phosphate," Nutrien President and CEO Ken Seitz said in an analyst call on Thursday. Nitrogen fertilizer demand is also facing pressure from high prices, but not as severely, he said.
Florida-based fertilizer company Mosaic's President and CEO Bruce Bodine also said this week that it has operated in a "difficult market" due to the worldwide shortage of sulfur caused by the U.S.-Israel war with Iran, which has strangled supplies from the Gulf vital to phosphate production.  
"We've curtailed production," Bodine said in an analyst call. "We're relying on our strong balance sheet as a bridge to a more sustainable environment."
Mosaic is a major phosphate fertilizer producer and has managed to secure third-quarter sulfur supplies "considerably below the spot market," but the high spot sulfur prices will likely cause world production to fall 30 million tons from last year, Bodine said.
WAR EXACERBATES TOUGH SITUATION

        Nitrogen fertilizers are produced in the Gulf and exported, and natural gas and sulfur are exported to producers around the world. Prices of both nitrogen and phosphate fertilizers jumped at the beginning of the war, but nitrogen fertilizers dropped back to pre-war levels after a few weeks.
Phosphate prices jumped and are predicted to remain high for months due to a global shortage of sulfur, which is used to extract phosphate from the material it is naturally mixed with. 
Pre-war prices were already seen as elevated and a financial challenge for farmers, so the war spike has exacerbated a tough situation, according to agricultural economists. 
For the world's commercial corn, soybean and other crop farmers, fertilizer prices can be a key factor in profitability because they are often their biggest expense, so reopening the Gulf is vital for boosting world supplies and reducing prices, say fertilizer analysts. 
Mosaic expects to see global crop yields fall due to low phosphate application rates, since crops short of optimal amounts of fertilizer often can't reach their full potential. 
Southern Hemisphere farmers will begin planting their main crops within weeks and most need to buy fertilizer, while Northern Hemisphere farmers will face the decision of whether to put fertilizer into the soil in the fall or wait for spring and hope for lower prices.
Nutrien said it expects potash demand to remain strong, since it is seen as the most affordable fertilizer. Some nitrogen demand lost in the second quarter should be recovered in the rest of 2026, Seitz said in the analyst call. 
The company plans to spend less on capital projects in the rest of 2026 as part of the financial restraint it hopes will make this tight period a short-term phenomenon. 

 (Reporting by Ed White; Additional reporting by Sumit Saha; Editing by PJ Huffstutter and Susan Fenton)
 ((ed.white@thomsonreuters.com))