This month, Mosaic submitted a WARN notice to the Florida Department of Commerce. The South Fort Meade phosphate plant will cease operations starting December 8, laying off 199 employees, with the shutdown period expected to last more than six months. The plant began production in 1995 and has operated in Polk County for 31 years. It had a total workforce of 206, meaning the layoffs cover nearly all active employees.
Mosaic's stated reason is that the supply and price of sulfur have made it impossible for the plant to operate economically.
Sulfur is a key raw material in phosphate fertilizer production. Approximately half of the global sulfur trade passes through the Strait of Hormuz, a waterway that has been obstructed since the Iran war. Sulfur prices were $150 to $180 per ton a year ago, but by October this year, they had risen to $850 to $900, with some CIF prices approaching $1,000—an increase of nearly tenfold.
Mosaic's financial statements show that the sulfur cost for its U.S. phosphate business in Q2 was $522 per long ton, and the company's Q3 guidance is $700 to $710, an increase of more than $180 in a single quarter. During the same period, the FOB price guidance for DAP was $820 to $840 per ton, and the increase in product prices is far from enough to cover the incremental rise in raw material costs. The phosphate business reported an operating loss of $48 million in Q1, which widened to $104 million in Q2, indicating accelerating losses. In the first half of the year, Mosaic's overall net loss was $530.4 million, compared with a net profit of $648.8 million in the same period last year.
In addition, 5 of Mosaic's 15 plants in Brazil have been temporarily or partially shut down. The Uberaba complex in Minas Gerais entered "progressive hibernation" starting in September, and the Brazil fertilizer segment swung from a profit to a loss of $41 million in Q2.
Globally, Mosaic has been cornered by the same dilemma: sulfur costs have risen to a level that DAP selling prices cannot catch up with. Production cuts are the only choice, and South Fort Meade is merely the first to go from reduced load to plant closure and layoffs.
Mosaic's plant shutdown comes against the backdrop of an already tightening global phosphate fertilizer supply. In 2026, China's phosphate fertilizer exports fell from 5.3 million tons in 2025 to nearly zero, due to sulfur shortages combined with government export controls that prioritize domestic supply.
China is the world's largest phosphate fertilizer exporter. Its exit means a significant chunk of marginal supply has already been removed from the global market, and the South Fort Meade shutdown is another cut into an already tightened supply base. It is estimated that by 2027, China's exports will recover to about 2 million tons, still far below the 2025 level, and this is contingent on sulfur supply stabilizing and trade restrictions easing.
Mosaic's plant closure removes yet another piece from an already tight phosphate supply. Buyers will turn to Morocco, Saudi Arabia, and other regional suppliers, but those producers' incremental capacity is also constrained by sulfur availability. Those with inventory and product-switching capabilities can hold out longer; those without will continue to cut production. Before sulfur prices fall or China's exports recover, the global phosphate fertilizer market can only find equilibrium at a lower supply level.
