American fertilizer traders have seized on a lucrative opportunity overseas because of the war in Iran, showing how US farmers have been caught again on the wrong side of moves in global markets.
Domestic prices for phosphate fertilizers have lagged that of the international market, as American farmers struggling with high production costs pare back their use of the key crop nutrient applied widely to both corn and soy fields. That has prompted some traders to move the product abroad to nations willing to pay up as the conflict in the Middle East ensnares global supply chains.
“US phosphate prices ...