China is restricting fertilizer exports to protect its domestic market, which will lead to a deterioration in the global situation as supplies from the Middle East have been blocked due to the war against Iran.
Reuters reported this, citing its own sources on Friday, March 20.
The agency's unnamed interlocutors said that in mid-March, China banned the export of mixtures of nitrogen-potassium fertilizers and some types of phosphate fertilizers.
Five other sources told Reuters that in addition to existing bans and export quotas on urea, Chinese producers are only allowed to export a few types of fertilizer, including ammonium sulfate.
This means that between 50% and 75% of all Chinese fertilizer exports in 2025 will be subject to restrictions. According to Reuters, this could be as much as 40 million metric tons.
Beijing is imposing restrictions on the export of goods whose production has been threatened by the disruption of supply chains caused by the war against Iran, and the deepening shortages and rising prices around the world.
Reuters notes that last year China provided Brazil, Indonesia and Thailand with about a fifth of their fertilizer imports. And for Malaysia and New Zealand, China's share of fertilizer imports was one third. For India, the figure was about 16%.
An unnamed representative of an Indian fertilizer company told Reuters that the market had hopes that China would intervene.
"Buyers were hoping that China would step in and fill the supply gap, but this decision will only deepen the deficit further," he was quoted as saying.
As the Ukrainian News agency earlier reporte, due to the closure of the Strait of Hormuz, a number of aluminum producers in the Middle East had to suspend production. This negatively affected the price of the metal on the market.
We also wrote that the largest chipmaker TSMC may suffer due to the war against Iran. The Taiwanese company is dependent on energy supplies from the Middle East, and their shortage threatens to disrupt production.
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