China Taps Fertilizer Reserves as War Disrupts Global Supplies
Workers unload urea fertilizer from cargo ship in Yantai Port, Shandong Province.
Photographer: CFOTO/Future Publishing/Getty Images
China has decided to release commercial fertilizer stockpiles for the spring planting season early this year, as war in the Middle East disrupts global trade flows and pushes up prices of key crop nutrients.
Beijing has asked firms that store nitrogen, phosphate and compound fertilizers to sell the crop inputs to local agriculture producers, according to a statement from the China Agricultural Means of Production Association published late on Friday. The statement did not provide further details.