Plymouth, Minn. — The Mosaic Co. President and CEO James Prokopanko gave his views on the upcoming potash buying season at the CIBC Whistler Institutional Investor Conference Jan. 19. He says that despite a current lull in the potash market, Mosaic expects a record year of potash consumption – about 58 million. He said the second half will be better than the first half, and the second quarter will be better than the first quarter. “The excitement about purchasing potash has been muted, due to the volatility and uncertainty about where grain prices are going.” However, he said that while fertilizer relative to corn is very well priced and very affordable, dealers remember 2008. “They had large positions, global financial crisis, commodity prices plunge, and it was a near-death experience for many dealers.” He said fertilizer is going to go to the field, that dealers are just not ready to take price risk right now. He said the industry has helped dealers by putting in place future price deferred contracts in which they take ownership of the product and it is priced at a later date. Prokopanko expects January and February to be slow, and that things will be just fine in March. He expects a strong April and May. Although he expects the Chinese to come into the market by the end of March, he thinks the Indians can wait and defer to at least July.
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