Vale cashes in on fertilizer boom with $1.3 billion Mosaic stock sale

One of the world’s biggest stage.mining.companies thinks it’s time to cash in on the global fertilizer boom.

Brazilian iron ore and nickel giant Vale sold more than 34 million shares in Mosaic Co. for $1.3 billion, unloading stock received from selling its fertilizer business to the U.S. phosphate producer in 2018.

Vale is exiting after the value of Mosaic’s stock more than doubled in the past year in an industrywide rally underpinned by fertilizer shortages and soaring prices of crop nutrients.

The Rio de Janeiro-based miner is selling non-core assets as it sharpens focus on iron and nickel deposits and its recovery from a 2019 tailings dam disaster.

The divestment comes in the same week as Mosaic posted disappointing quarterly sales, with analysts warning that elevated fertilizer prices may erode demand.

(By James Attwood)