In an extensive report, Bloomberg discusses how Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine highlighted the role of fertilizers — and who controls them — as a strategic lever of global influence. The geopolitical fallout is being felt in the Middle East, by countries such as Malawi and Mozambique in Africa that are dependent on fertilizer imports from the Black Sea Region, and throughout Latin America where countries depend on imports for 83 percent of fertilizers applied, mostly from Russia, China, and Belarus, according to the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI).
Valeria Piñeiro, IFPRI’s acting head for Latin America, uses Peru as an example, stating that the Peruvian government announced subsidies to ease costs for smallholder farmers, but implementation was patchy. Peru “is being hit hard,” said Piñeiro. It’s faced with some big problems, and “they’re all political.”
Republished in Yahoo Finance, Pehal News (India), in Vietnam Biz as “Fertilizer becomes a sharp diplomatic tool, more than 30% of production is in the hands of China and Russia,” in the Economic Times (India) as “Feed the world without fertiliser? Why crop nutrients are suddenly political,” in Alaraby as “In detail, this is how Russia and China control global food security,” in Soha (Vietnam) as “An industry as important as Russia’s crude oil that Europe cannot touch: the US also has to depend heavily, the big players in the industry are all allies of Russia, providing a quarter of the world’s output,” in Head Topics (USA), Saratov Bezformata (Russia) as “Bloomberg: how fertilizer production in Russia and China affects geopolitics,” in Economy Plus (Egypt) as “How Russia and China control the world’s food,” in Farm Progress, as World’s fertilizer market in turmoil,” in Hindustan Times (India).
