Food prices could go up as Hurricane Ian approaches Florida and threatens to disrupt the fertilizer supply.
According to a public advisory from the National Hurricane Center, Hurricane Ian, which became a Category 3 storm early Tuesday, is expected to make landfall on Florida's Gulf Coast sometime mid-week. It had maximum sustained winds of around 120 mph late Tuesday afternoon.
Multiple counties in Florida, including Tampa, have issued mandatory evacuation orders for certain areas as of Tuesday.
Mosaic Co., which mines phosphate and potash and uses them to make fertilizers, is headquartered in Tampa. Its North American phosphate operations make up about 50 percent of North American farmers' supply of granular phosphate fertilizer, and 12 percent of the global supply in a given year, the company said in a fact sheet.
The company has multiple phosphate mining and manufacturing sites in the west-central part of Florida, according to its website. Mosaic didn't speculate on the potential impact of operations at the time of publication, but did give the following statements to FOX Business.
Mosaic's North America Incident Command Team coordinating with operating sites last week in advance of Hurricane Ian, the company said in a statement. Weather updates are kept up with us while we complete preparations at our phosphate and production facilities in Florida and Louisiana. The statement says that employees at Mosaic's Tampa headquarters and other Florida locations are working remotely so they can focus on their own personal preparation. The company said it is communicating with its customers to make sure they are aware of any impact to services. Mosaic made a statement to FOX Business in anticipation of the significant impact of Hurricane Ian, and we have taken the appropriate steps to protect our people, mines, plants, port facilities and administrative offices.
Food prices, already slammed by inflation, could go up as many farmers use them to help grow crops, because of the hurricane-related disruptions to the fertilizer supply. Food prices have been rising because of extreme weather conditions for farmers, supply chain issues and geopolitical tensions, according to FOX Business previously reported.
Food prices in the consumer price index increased by 0.8% from July and 11.4% from a year ago, according to the Labor Department.
Bloomberg was the first to report on Mosaic's Florida footprint.