By Ryan Hanrahan
Bloomberg’s Ilena Peng and Elizabeth Elkin reported that “farm cooperative CHS Inc. and fertilizer producer OCP North America are proposing a $450 million phosphate fertilizer plant in Louisiana, bolstering domestic supplies as global conflicts have increasingly thwarted the flow of foreign crop nutrients.“
“The proposed plant in Waggaman, Louisiana, the first of its kind in the US in over four decades, would produce more than a million tons of phosphate-based fertilizer annually, according to a Wednesday press release,” Peng and Elkin reported. “The US produced about 5 million metric tons of finished phosphate fertilizers in 2024, according to Bloomberg Green Markets.”
“The announcement comes as global fertilizer markets have been roiled by geopolitical conflict, first in Russia and Ukraine and then in the Middle East,” Peng and Elkin reported. “Trade disruptions have elevated prices for the key crop nutrients and stoked concerns in the US about food security. The facility could reduce US dependency on imported phosphate fertilizers by more than 48%, according to the release.“
Agri-Pulse’s Steve Davies reported that “under the proposed joint venture, ‘the OCP Group will supply phosphoric acid to the facility, drawing on its global phosphate expertise and resources,’ according to the news release. ‘Finished fertilizer products will be distributed through both OCP North America and CHS, which serves cooperatives, retailers and farmers across the United States through its extensive wholesale and retail crop nutrients network.'”
“The location of the facility ‘helps ensure access to raw materials and the ability to transport products via the Mississippi River system,’ the release says,” according to Davies’ reporting.
Source : illinois.edu