Is Potash from Russia Feasible?, ICE Raids Golden Triangle

The Trump administration is looking to increase potash imports from Belarus, but logistical challenges and higher costs are raising questions about how feasible that may actually be. StoneX Vice President of Fertilizer Josh Linville explains the current roadblocks and geopolitical challenges.

“When you look at at the height of Belarusian potash supplies, the U.S. marketplace, and this was in the around 2017, 2018, 750,000 tons. That was the world was normal, things were flowing as they were, and they only brought in three-quarters of a million tons. We use millions upon millions of tons per year, and Canada accounts for 90% of that. And then you got to look at where Belarus is today. They are landlocked. Normally, they would have moved that product through Lithuania to their deep-sea ports and around the world. That's what they did for years and years and years.

Lindville says that Belarus is landlocked by NATO member countries, creating additional challenges for trade routes due to ongoing geopolitical tensions.”

“So, you're hemmed in on the north, the south, and the west. The only route they have is to the east in Russia. Takes longer to ship it. It costs more money to ship it. We think that the the channels probably cannot move Belarus's normal flows just because Russia wants to move their own product and the rail lines and all that didn't exist for them to move normal amounts. So they're hemmed in.”

And recent enforcement in Southwest Kansas is disrupting beef processing in one of the nation's major cattle feeding operations potentially costing producers millions of dollars in lost revenue. I'm Lorrie Boyer.