The world’s biggest potash-producing company is set to produce more potash in 2022 due to “uncertainty of potash supply” coming out of Eastern Europe.
Saskatoon-based Nutrien, which has an estimated 20 million tonnes of potash-mining capacity across six mines in Saskatchewan, said Wednesday it plans to boost its output for 2022 to 15 million tonnes, up almost one million tonnes from its previous expectation.
“This is the most potash we have ever produced, an increase of nearly 20 per cent” from its output in 2020, the company said on Twitter.
The majority of that additional volume is expected to be produced in the second half of the year, the company said in a release.
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Nutrien cited the “uncertainty of potash supply from Eastern Europe,” though it didn’t specify the causes of those uncertainties in its release.
Multiple countries have imposed economic sanctions on Russia and Belarus, the world’s second- and third-biggest potash producing countries, over Russia’s invasion of neighbouring Ukraine. Several nations, including Canada and Britain, have also closed their ports to Russian vessels.
The company’s interim CEO, Ken Seitz, said its “thoughts and sympathies are with those impacted by the crisis in Ukraine and we hope for an immediate de-escalation of this conflict.”
The impacts of that conflict, he said, “extend beyond Eastern Europe as a disruption in supply of key agriculture, fertilizer and energy commodities could have implications for global food security.”
The company, he added, will “continue to closely monitor market conditions and will evolve our long-term plans to ensure we utilize our assets in a safe and sustainable manner that benefits all our stakeholders.”
Nutrien’s 2022 potash production is expected to account for more than 70 per cent of global production added since 2020, the company said.
“We expect a small increase in our 2022 capital expenditures and will be hiring additional employees across our network of low-cost potash mines in Saskatchewan.”
Nutrien’s decision, however, comes amid the possibility of a lockout of engineers, conductors and train and yard service staff at Canadian Pacific Railway, which moved about 150,900 carloads of potash in calendar 2021. CP this week served notice to lock out those workers effective Sunday.
Fertilizer Canada, the industry group for fertilizer manufacturers and distributors, warned in a separate release Thursday that a CP work stoppage “could result in fertilizer production facilities being forced to shut-in production.”
The group said its members “are already beginning to feel the impacts as preparation for a work stoppage begins.” — Glacier FarmMedia Network
