Nutrien Hoarding Chemicals from China in Case Trade War Gets Worse

AgriBusiness Global Staff By AgriBusiness Global Staff|7 February 2019

The world’s largest crop-nutrient supplier has taken to hoarding key chemicals from China in case the trade war between Washington and Beijing gets even worse, writes Jen Skerritt on Blooomberg.com.

Nutrien Ltd. has built up a “strategic inventory” of the chemical ingredients it imports from China. The move comes in case the U.S. decides to increase a 10% tariff on the Asian goods to 25%, Chief Executive Officer Chuck Magro said. Trade uncertainty is pressuring global crop prices, and the stockpiles will act as a “buffer” and help the company avoid hiking the prices it charges to farmers, he said.

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“We have built some inventory on key crop chemistry that come out of China,” Magro said in a telephone interview following the company’s fourth-quarter earnings. “That will hopefully take us through most of the spring season,” when farmers in North America will plant this year’s crops, he said.

Read more at Bloomberg.com.

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