Fertiliser prices surge from Iran war, squeezing weary US farmers
The Straits Times
About 50 per cent of agricultural production in the US can be attributed to fertiliser use, said one expert. Read more at straitstimes.com.
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WASHINGTON – American farmers are again feeling the squeeze after a year marked by trade turmoil and low crop prices, with the US-Israeli war on Iran fuelling a fertiliser cost surge as planting season approaches.
Mr Jim Martin, an Illinois farmer who grows soya beans, corn and other crops, said fertiliser and input costs were “everybody’s nightmare right now”.
While he considers himself lucky enough to have already bought what he needs for this planting season, costs are “still the highest that they’ve been in years”, he told AFP.
Around 33 per cent of the world’s fertilisers transit through the Strait of Hormuz, where traffic has all but halted since the war broke out, according to analytics firm Kpler.
US-Israeli strikes targeting Iran on Feb 28 sparked a war that has caused regional chaos, with missiles flying across the strait snarling maritime traffic.
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