The International Fertilizer Association (IFA) today postponed its upcoming annual conference to 2021, making it the latest industry event to be canceled amid a mounting global effort to confront the coronavirus outbreak.
IFA said today in a letter to members that its decision to postpone this year's event — originally scheduled for 20-22 April in New Delhi, India — was informed by the growing list of companies implementing travel bans, escalating health checks at borders and heightened concerns surrounding large global conferences.
IFA added next year's event will remain in New Delhi.
Various commodity industry organizations have announced in recent days cancellations to major events as new cases of the virus have been reported in Europe, the Caribbean and the US.
The annual CeraWeek energy conference in Houston, Texas, originally scheduled for next week, was cancelled after the World Health Organization (WHO) on 28 February raised its risk assessment of the virus.
More than 88,000 cases of the virus have been confirmed globally, with more than 3,000 confirmed deaths, primarily in China, according to the WHO. The US has already implemented a travel ban for non-US citizens who visited China and Iran during the previous 14 days, and expanded travel restrictions to certain countries reporting additional cases.
More restrictions will be imposed on air travel "from certain countries where they are having more of a breakout," Trump said yesterday at the White House during a meeting with government officials and pharmaceutical company chiefs.
Outbreak dents China's phosphate output
Large Chinese phosphate producers operated at about 50-60pc of capacity in February, with some units off line.
DAP output from producers in Hubei, the epicenter of the coronavirus outbreak and a key fertilizer production hub in China, has been especially reduced on compounding health measures to minimize further diagnoses and the ongoing efforts of the 2+6 producers to curb output.
Total DAP production cuts are estimated to persist in this month as Hubei, which accounts for one-quarter of China's phosphate capacity, remains locked down until next week.
