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(Bloomberg) — The Trump administration has moved to locate backup sources of fertilizers for American farmers at the start of the planting season after the Iran war shut down a key source of supply.
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“We’ve been all over the fertilizer problem,” White House National Economic Council Director Kevin Hassett said on CNBC Tuesday. “I’m not saying that we can eliminate what disruption there is so far, but we can minimize it for sure.”
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Hassett said the US has “established licenses for Venezuela to produce more fertilizer,” and has held discussions with Morocco, which he said has the world’s largest reserve of potash. The administration has been engaged “as an insurance policy against disruption,” he said.
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The focus is getting supplies to American farmers, Hasset said. “It’s almost planting season, and there’s a lot of fertilizer that usually goes down.”
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One facility in Qatar had produced so much fertilizer that it supplied “maybe about 20%” of the US market, according to Hassett. The Iran conflict has mostly shut the key Strait of Hormuz passage for ships, however, leaving energy and other resources bottled up in the Gulf.
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West Coast
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The NEC chief also said that officials are examining options to help maintain the supply of refined energy products to the West Coast of the US.
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“Asian economies, which are much more reliant on Middle East oil, they actually sell a lot of refined product in to the West Coast of the US,” Hassett said. “We’re seeing some signs that they might be pulling that back to make sure that they have enough energy for themselves.”
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The situation means “we might have to move a few chips” on the figurative playing board, he said.
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