May 11, 2026 — The Mosaic Company withdrew its 2026 phosphate production forecast on Monday and announced partial curtailments at U.S. and Brazilian facilities, as runaway costs for sulfur, ammonia and urea — driven by the U.S.-Israel war with Iran — squeeze margins across the global fertilizer industry. The American Soybean Association responded swiftly, warning the cutbacks could not come at a worse moment for growers already battling high input costs and softening commodity prices.
The Tampa, Florida-based producer said it will partially idle operations in Louisiana and Florida and scale back additional fertilizer output in Brazil. The move builds on April’s decision to idle the Araxa and Patrocinio phosphate plants in Brazil and reduce headcount — actions that contributed to a $442 million first-quarter charge.
In a report from the Wall Street Journal, Chief Executive Bruce Bodine framed the curtailments as a direct response to a raw materials market that has tightened dramatically since the Persian Gulf conflict began in late February. On a call with analysts, Bodine said “Many producers are struggling to secure raw materials, resulting in an already tight market becoming even tighter. To put it simply, there is not going to be enough phosphate to meet global demand.”
Bodine described the production cuts as temporary, designed to reduce the company’s need to purchase sulfur at today’s elevated prices. He told analysts the idled capacity can be brought back online quickly once market conditions improve.
The American Soybean Association called the timing of the cutbacks deeply problematic for U.S. farmers.
“This unsettling news from Mosaic comes at a time when U.S. soybean farmers are facing major economic headwinds, and neither the skyrocketing cost nor the availability of inputs — like phosphate fertilizer — are helping ease those challenges,” said ASA President Scott Metzger, an Ohio soybean farmer. “This is the worst time possible for Mosaic to decrease domestic phosphate production. High sulfuric acid costs are disrupting the global fertilizer market, and farmers are ultimately paying the price through higher input costs.”
The association used the announcement to renew its call for the Trump administration to terminate the countervailing duty on phosphate fertilizer imports from Morocco and Russia. ASA estimates the duty has added $6.9 billion in costs to U.S. farmers over the past five years — a stretch during which commodity prices have trended downward.
“This ill-conceived duty has increased the cost of phosphate fertilizer for farmers by $6.9 billion over the past five years while commodity prices continue to trend downwards,” Metzger said. “We urge the President to remove the CVD on phosphate fertilizers to address the availability and affordability of this important input.”
Mosaic had previously projected 2026 phosphate production above 7 million tonnes. That guidance has been pulled entirely, and the company signaled additional curtailments are possible if margins fail to recover.
