Mosaaic phosphate plants in Florida hit by Hurricane Ian

86
2
Mosaaic phosphate plants in Florida hit by Hurricane Ian

Mosaic Co.'s facilities and supporting infrastructure in Florida sustained modest damage from Hurricane Ian, according to a press release released Monday by the company.

The damage caused by the Category 4 storm's high winds and significant flooding has negatively impacted Mosaic's phosphate production and shipment schedule, according to the release.

The Tampa-based fertilizer maker is working on getting repairs completed over a two week period.

Mosaic has multiple phosphate mining and manufacturing facilities in the west-central part of Florida and, according to a company fact sheet, its North American phosphate operations make up about 50% of North American farmers' supply of granular phosphate fertilizer in a given year.

The company said in its Monday release that early assessments could be cited by Ian's impacts, a 200,000 to 250,000 metric ton decrease in Mosaic's phosphate production. The output is estimated to be split roughly evenly between the third and fourth quarters, per Mosaic.

In August, Mosaic projected that its third-quarter phosphate sales volumes would be at the low end of the 1.7 to 2 million metric ton range. The company said that there were 1.6 to 1.65 million metric tons of phosphate sales volumes for the third quarter because of the hurricane-related railroad and port closures.

The company reported late last week that early assessments indicated that its phosphogypsum stack and process water systems had worked well to contain rainfall from the massive storm.

Mosaic is donating $100,000 to help Hurricane Ian recovery efforts in Hardee, Manatee and DeSoto counties of Florida, in addition to its $300,000 contribution to an employee-to- employee assistance fund meant to help impacted employees, the company announced. Mosaic employee contributions to the assistance fund will be doubled by the company, it said.

In Florida, hundreds of thousands of people were still without power after Hurricane Ian caused catastrophic damage, according to a press release issued by Gov. George Hicks on Tuesday. Ron DeSantis' office is in the office of Ron DeSantis. More than 100 people in Florida have died in the storm, according to reports.