Inside the global fertilizer crunch

About this episode

This episode discusses the global fertilizer market and its implications for food supply amidst geopolitical tensions.

While much of the world has been focused on the war in Iran’s impact on the energy sector, another arguably more impactful market has been largely overlooked: fertilizer. The global fertilizer market is in a precarious spot. Roughly a third of the world's seaborne fertilizer trade goes through the Strait of Hormuz. Even before the war in Iran began, China, the world’s top phosphate producer, halted exports of the crucial compound. As a result, the longer the strait remains closed, the more the threat to our global food supply escalates. In this episode, Shayle speaks with Josh Linville, vice president of Fertilizer at StoneX, to make sense of the global fertilizer market and its cascading impacts. Shayle and Josh cover topics including: The current state of global fertilizer markets The tenuous relationship between natural gas prices and the cost of producing nitrogen-based fertilizers in Europe How stalled shipments of fertilizer could impact supply and demand for next year’s planting season The impact of Chinese phosphate export restrictions on the global market How a prolonged closure of the Strait could impact food supplies around the world Resources Josh Linville’s X account…

People in this episode

Host: Shayle Kann

Guest: Josh Linville

Topics covered

• global fertilizer market
• impact of war on agriculture
• natural gas prices
• food supply chain
• China phosphate exports

Keywords

• fertilizer
• food supply
• Iran
• natural gas
• China
• phosphate
• Strait of Hormuz
• agriculture

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: StoneX, Latitude Media, DOE

Places: Iran, Strait of Hormuz

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