Nutrien weighs increasing potash output amid fertilizer crunch

The company could make 18 million tons of the commonly used fertilizer if it increased capacity in increments over a one- to three-year period, according to Mark Thompson, Nutrien’s chief strategy officer. It’s already upping output by 1 million tons in 2022 for a total of 15 million tons.

“We’re looking and assessing right now about what a ramp up would look like in the next couple of years to begin to bring more production in the market,” Thompson said at a virtual industry conference Thursday.

Fertilizer prices have soared to all-time highs as Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and sanctions on Belarus threw a massive chunk of the world’s supplies into disarray. Russian production may drop by more than half in 2022, and the longer the war continues the more likely the world will need additional volumes of potash, Thompson said.