(NDAgConnection.com) – The head of the world’s largest fertilizer company Nutrien, Ken Seitz, warned of an impending global shortage, Bloomberg writes.

Supplies from Russia and Belarus will become more limited than he expected. Two major potash-producing countries have cut exports because of trade restrictions and the special operation in Ukraine. Seitz believes supplies from Belarus will halve and Russian exports will drop by 25 percent.

“The world is going to have to look to the other breadbaskets of the world to fill that supply gap for food,” he said. Fertilizer shortages could lead to lower yields, eventually hitting consumers when food prices rise sharply. Seitz warns that global shortages will continue into next year.

At the end of this year, the volume of Russian fertilizer shipments abroad may drop significantly, according to the Russian Association of Fertilizer Producers (RAPU). In 2022, exports are expected to decrease by 17 percent by 2021.