The Mosaic Co. reported in mid-June that the three-year, $35 million MicroEssentials capacity expansion at its Riverview MAP facility in Florida is now complete, boosting production capacity to 800,000 mt/y.
“Prior to completion of this project, total MicroEssentials production across our North America phosphate operations was 4.3 million tonnes per year,” said Kelly Strong, Vice President Operations, Phosphate. “With customer demand for MicroEssentials projected to increase to more than five million tonnes by 2026, we needed this additional production capacity to ensure we’re able to meet that demand.”
MicroEssentials is one of four specialty fertilizers produced by Mosaic. The product line consists of four formulations: S9, S10, S15, and SZ, with all formulations containing nitrogen, phosphorus, and sulfur, and the SZ formulation adding zinc. When the MicroEssentials capacity at Riverview is fully ramped up, Mosaic said more than half of its US phosphate production will be higher-margin, performance fertilizers.
“Growing our production capacity for MicroEssentials and other specialty products is important, not just to keep pace with growing demand but because it gives us options to stabilize and improve our results,” Kelly said. “We’re in a cyclical business and global demand is influenced by external factors we can’t control, so having a diverse product portfolio and the operational flexibility we need to be able to adjust production helps us steer our own ship.”
MicroEssentials was developed and first produced at Mosaic’s Bartow facility in 2001. Increased customer demand led the company to expand production of various formulations at its Riverview facility in 2005, the Faustina facility in Louisiana in 2012, and the New Wales facility in Florida in 2015.