Fertilizer prices to go up by 60%


Japan's largest wholesaler of fertilizers says it will raise its prices by an average of 60 percent in July, as a result of a global surge in prices of fertilizer ingredients. NHK reports that Japan's National Federation of Agricultural
Cooperative Associations, or Zenno, announced its record-high price increases at a news conference on Friday (Actually it was top news last night at NHK's 21:00 Newshour - the second news was about North Korea's nuclear program).

Prices of nitrogen-based fertilizers will rise up to 63 percent and phosphorus fertilizers will rise up to 74 percent. Prices of compound fertilizers made of nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium will rise from between 45 and 112 percent. Zenno says the cost of nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium has doubled or tripled from last year.

The surge in prices is attributed to a growth in crop production as the global population expands. China, the world's largest producer of phosphorus, accelerated the trend by restricting its phosphorus exports to secure domestic needs.

Japan imports almost all ingredients for fertilizers, making it vulnerable to global price fluctuations.


NHK World: Fertilizer prices to go up

What NHK failed to note was that many other countries also import fertilizer ingredients and feed ingredients from China. This means that if domestic food prices go up, Japan will also have a harder time to import cheap food from other countries. As Tony Boys noted 8 years ago (I quoted him here and here) and many others since then have pointed out, we could be facing a sudden food crisis not unlike what happened to North Korea in the 1990s.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Global Article 9 Conference to Abolish War

Image
A unique three-day international conference is being held at Makuhari near Tokyo, a day after the 61st anniversary of the enforcement of Japan's Constitution. It is organized by nongovernmental groups, including Japan-based Peace Boat . Organizers said the meeting will provide an opportunity to discuss the significance of the constitutional article that endorses demilitarization and what people can do to promote its spirit, notes The Japan Times . While the constitution stipulates that Japan renounces war as a sovereign right and that it will not maintain land, sea and air forces, the ruling Liberal Democratic Party has been keen to make amendments. "The war in Iraq has shown that even the strongest, biggest army in the world can not keep peace in a single city. It proves that aggression never instates peace," Tatsuya Yoshioka, director of Peace Boat and a representative of the event's organizing committee, said during the opening remarks. "Article 9 is a treasu...
Read more

マーティンの鵜の目鷹の目 -世界の消費者運動の旅から

Image
  My new book has been published! マーティン・フリッド (著)   世界中の消費者が同じ課題を抱え、悩み、たたかっている。スウェーデンに生まれ、ヨーロッパ、そして日本の消費者運動の現場を歩いてきた著者が、人びとの日常によりそいながら軽妙なユーモアを交えて食、環境、エネルギー、社会のあり方、政治、経済を考えます。   https://nishoren.net/new-information/14177 Consumers all over the world are facing similar problems, worries, and struggles. In this book, the author, who was born in Sweden and has walked the frontlines of consumer movements in Europe ...
Read more

Salvador Dali, Hiroshima and Okinawa

Image
Spanish artist Salvador Dali was deeply terrified by the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki , and his exact, detailed style was very much suited to show the horror of the A-bomb, which America tried to keep a secret by classifying photos and descriptions until the end of the occupation of Japan in 1952. The Bureau of Atomic Tourism has more details if you want to know more about the legacy of nuclear weapons in the U.S. Even today, do people understand the real horror of atomic bombs? If not, then, why not ? Dali's paintings are on display in Fukushima prefecture, where you can view Melancholy Atomic and Uranium Idyll and The Three Sphinxes of Bikini at the Morohashi Museum of Modern Art . Long YouTube video from the Nihon University (Nichidai) channel with an interview featuring Morohashi Eiji, the son of the founder of the unique museum, and scenes from the Morohashi Museum (29:20): #271美術館への誘い ダリの世界 Is there a hidden message in Dali's Bikini hydrogen bomb painting...
Read more