Mosaic to cut 199 jobs as sulphur shortage idles South Fort Meade

Mosaic is temporarily suspending its South Fort Meade phosphate operations in Polk County, Florida, because of limited sulphur supplies, with 199 employees facing job cuts, Fertilizer Daily Markets reported. The Tampa-based producer disclosed the reductions in a notice to the Florida Department of Commerce, setting out another curtailment in its phosphate business as access to a key production input remains constrained.

The Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act letter is dated 5 October 2026 and was signed by Ron Yasurek, Mosaic’s vice-president of phosphate operations for North America. It schedules the start of the job cuts for 8 December 2026. According to local reporting on the filing cited by Fertilizer Daily Markets, the site is expected to be idle for more than six months. Some workers will remain to carry out maintenance and safety duties. Mosaic said a restart would depend on market conditions and sufficient sulphur availability to resume operations safely and reliably.

Sulphur is required to make sulphuric acid, which is used to process phosphate rock into phosphoric acid for diammonium phosphate (DAP) and monoammonium phosphate (MAP). Fertilizer Daily Markets linked the tighter supply to disruption of shipping through the Strait of Hormuz since late February. The outlet also reported that the squeeze had reduced China’s phosphate exports to almost zero this year, placing the Florida shutdown within a wider constraint on phosphate production and trade.

South Fort Meade follows output reductions at Mosaic’s Bartow and Riverview plants in Florida and its Faustina and Uncle Sam plants in Louisiana. The company has also cut back phosphate operations in Brazil. Citing WTSP, Fertilizer Daily Markets reported that Mosaic’s phosphate segment recorded an operating loss of $104 million in the second quarter of 2026, compared with $48 million in the first quarter. The outlet characterised the latest shutdown as further evidence that a recovery in US phosphate supply remained dependent on sulphur flows returning to normal.