Not only is Trump been terrible for farmers in this country in both of his terms, he is now hurting farmers all across the world. No one should be surprised by his power to harm others, he probably delights in this news.
A farmer in the Midwest said last week he is now spending an additional $1500.00 per week in fuel.
SUPHAN BURI, Thailand — Saithong Jamjai has just finished harvesting the rice on the 19 hectares of farmland she owns in central Thailand and now is the time to sow again. But she won’t, she said, because of the U.S.-Israeli war against Iran.
She has gone over the math for weeks. Because of surging prices, driven by the war, of fuel, fertilizer, plastics and other necessities, planting and harvesting will cost her at least $33,000, she said. The grain that she’ll produce, she estimates, will sell in August for only $22,000.
“A confirmed loss,” Saithong, 53, concluded. She’d rather let her land bake under the yellowing husks from last season. “We’re not going to sink the resources,” she said. “Not in this situation.”
The standoff between President Donald Trump and Iran that has brought shipping to a virtual halt in the Persian Gulf has set off supply chain shocks that are upending lives thousands of miles away in Asia, raising costs for farmers at the start of key planting seasons that will sharply reduce crop yields in the second half of the year and beyond, according to government officials, economists and farming groups.
Iran’s destruction of gas infrastructure in the Gulf and the dueling U.S.-Iran efforts to choke the Strait of Hormuz have prevented crucial supplies of fuel and its derivatives like urea — a potent source of nitrogen that enhances harvests — from leaving the Middle East. Because fuel infrastructure takes years to build, there is no ready replacement for these supplies.
In effect, 30 percent of the world’s urea has been “wiped out,” said Pranshi Goyal, senior analyst at the market intelligence firm CRU Group. China, a major fertilizer producer, has restricted exports to ensure its farmers have enough. Russia, another big manufacturer, is seeing demand soar, potentially boosting its economy and aiding its war in Ukraine. On what is known as the spot market, urea prices are up 40 percent since February.
On Monday, Trump said the United States would guide stranded ships through the Strait of Hormuz but then quickly reversed himself after reports that two U.S. destroyers had come under attack while transiting the strait. Even if ship traffic resumes, however, it would take at least a month or two for cargo to arrive at destinations and for markets to stabilize, Goyal said.
The longer the production plants in the Middle East stay closed, the longer they will take to restart. “This problem builds in a nonlinear fashion,” Goyal said.
WaPo
A farmer in the Midwest said last week he is now spending an additional $1500.00 per week in fuel.
SUPHAN BURI, Thailand — Saithong Jamjai has just finished harvesting the rice on the 19 hectares of farmland she owns in central Thailand and now is the time to sow again. But she won’t, she said, because of the U.S.-Israeli war against Iran.
She has gone over the math for weeks. Because of surging prices, driven by the war, of fuel, fertilizer, plastics and other necessities, planting and harvesting will cost her at least $33,000, she said. The grain that she’ll produce, she estimates, will sell in August for only $22,000.
“A confirmed loss,” Saithong, 53, concluded. She’d rather let her land bake under the yellowing husks from last season. “We’re not going to sink the resources,” she said. “Not in this situation.”
The standoff between President Donald Trump and Iran that has brought shipping to a virtual halt in the Persian Gulf has set off supply chain shocks that are upending lives thousands of miles away in Asia, raising costs for farmers at the start of key planting seasons that will sharply reduce crop yields in the second half of the year and beyond, according to government officials, economists and farming groups.
Iran’s destruction of gas infrastructure in the Gulf and the dueling U.S.-Iran efforts to choke the Strait of Hormuz have prevented crucial supplies of fuel and its derivatives like urea — a potent source of nitrogen that enhances harvests — from leaving the Middle East. Because fuel infrastructure takes years to build, there is no ready replacement for these supplies.
In effect, 30 percent of the world’s urea has been “wiped out,” said Pranshi Goyal, senior analyst at the market intelligence firm CRU Group. China, a major fertilizer producer, has restricted exports to ensure its farmers have enough. Russia, another big manufacturer, is seeing demand soar, potentially boosting its economy and aiding its war in Ukraine. On what is known as the spot market, urea prices are up 40 percent since February.
On Monday, Trump said the United States would guide stranded ships through the Strait of Hormuz but then quickly reversed himself after reports that two U.S. destroyers had come under attack while transiting the strait. Even if ship traffic resumes, however, it would take at least a month or two for cargo to arrive at destinations and for markets to stabilize, Goyal said.
The longer the production plants in the Middle East stay closed, the longer they will take to restart. “This problem builds in a nonlinear fashion,” Goyal said.
WaPo
