Fertilizer retailers fear prolonged war will drive up prices

WITH most urea fertilizer being produced and shipped from Middle Eastern countries, should the US-Israel war on Iran drag on there will be a ripple effect with retailers seeing sales plunge while farmers would have to cope with increased costs, TV Channel 7 said today (Mar. 7).

A survey of fertilizer shops in Buriram City showed that farmers have not yet rushed to stock up on urea fertilizer in anticipation of a price hike should the war linger on. This could be because it is not yet planting season while most lack the funds to prepare for this possibility.

Similarly, retailers are hesitating to invest in stocking up this key variety of fertilizer fearing that holding bags of the product would negatively impact sales

Mr. Narongchai Sereesongsaeng, a fertilizer retailer in Buriram municipality, said most urea fertilizer is produced and shipped from Middle Eastern countries such as Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Bahrain and a prolonged conflict would definitely cause prices to rise affecting both businesses and farmers, but the latter more directly.

Increased prices will add to farmers’ costs, but they would not be able to sell their produce at higher prices. When farmers suffer losses, they would have to skip buying this fertilizer from retailers with some possibly switching to manure or other types of organic fertilizer, which could affect crop growth.

Even so, fertilizer prices have not yet increased, averaging at 800-1,000 baht per bag, depending on the formula and brand.

As most farmers are not stockpiling urea fertilizer because they lack the funds to do so, Narongchai said he hopes the war ends soon to minimise the impact on both businesses and farmers.

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Shops selling bags of fertilizer. Above photo – TV Channel 7, Front Page photo – Amarin TV