{"id":468833,"date":"2026-05-05T02:09:13","date_gmt":"2026-05-05T02:09:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/468833\/"},"modified":"2026-05-05T02:09:13","modified_gmt":"2026-05-05T02:09:13","slug":"how-the-middle-east-crisis-is-expanding-chinas-agrochemical-influence","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/468833\/","title":{"rendered":"How the Middle East crisis is expanding China\u2019s agrochemical influence"},"content":{"rendered":"<p datatype=\"p\" data-qa=\"Component-Component\" class=\"e8zc9q40 css-1c6uqr6 ec74h0k1\">As the Middle East conflict spreads uncertainty among farmers around the world, Chinese farmers are carrying out their spring ploughing as usual and appear largely untroubled.<\/p>\n<p datatype=\"p\" data-qa=\"Component-Component\" class=\"e8zc9q40 css-1c6uqr6 ec74h0k1\">\u201cThe supply of chemical fertilisers for spring ploughing is ample,\u201d an official with the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs said at a news conference last month, adding that domestic fertiliser prices were \u201cfar lower than international prices\u201d and spring sowing was proceeding as normal.<\/p>\n<p datatype=\"p\" data-qa=\"Component-Component\" class=\"e8zc9q40 css-1c6uqr6 ec74h0k1\">While policymakers around the world have been focused on the threats to oil and petrochemical supplies stemming from the US-Israeli war on Iran, fertiliser is another global commodity whose market has shifted, with China\u2019s hold over upstream agricultural inputs becoming more evident.<\/p>\n<p>China \u2013 which accounts for about one-third of global fertiliser production \u2013 exerts a strong influence on the global agrochemical supply chain, and it has <a target=\"_self\" class=\"e1yy41x40 ef9u0v01 css-1ankfgb ecgc78b0\" href=\"https:\/\/www.scmp.com\/economy\/china-economy\/article\/3347964\/china-rushes-stabilise-fertiliser-market-iran-war-chokes-imports?module=inline&amp;pgtype=article\" title=\"\" data-qa=\"BaseLink-renderAnchor-StyledAnchor\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">reportedly strengthened curbs<\/a> on fertiliser exports in recent months.<\/p>\n<p datatype=\"p\" data-qa=\"Component-Component\" class=\"e8zc9q40 css-1c6uqr6 ec74h0k1\">China also accounts for about 70 per cent of the world\u2019s production capacity for the raw materials used in chemical pesticides, according to research firm IBISWorld.<\/p>\n<p datatype=\"p\" data-qa=\"Component-Component\" class=\"e8zc9q40 css-1c6uqr6 ec74h0k1\">Analysts said that production prowess gave China a greater say, especially as Iran and the United States continued to blockade the Strait of Hormuz, a critical artery for global fertiliser shipments. Before the US and Israel began military strikes on Iran at the end of February, about one-third of seaborne fertiliser trade passed through the narrow waterway, according to the UN.<\/p>\n<p datatype=\"p\" data-qa=\"Component-Component\" class=\"e8zc9q40 css-1c6uqr6 ec74h0k1\">\u201cChina\u2019s continued export restrictions, combined with global shortages in urea and phosphate fertilisers, are pushing prices higher and will ultimately affect global food security,\u201d analysts at Sublime China Information (SCI) said in emailed replies to questions.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"As the Middle East conflict spreads uncertainty among farmers around the world, Chinese farmers are carrying out their&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":468834,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[174],"tags":[205732,394,1128,205731,46113,1793,32305,164148,377,79,995,381,205730,179,18,101751,178604,29444,205729,19,387,7088,17,56613,205727,205728,168834,205726,198589],"class_list":{"0":"post-468833","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-economy","8":"tag-albaugh","9":"tag-argentina","10":"tag-australia","11":"tag-basf","12":"tag-bayer","13":"tag-beijing","14":"tag-belarus","15":"tag-blockade","16":"tag-brazil","17":"tag-business","18":"tag-canada","19":"tag-china","20":"tag-corteva","21":"tag-economy","22":"tag-eire","23":"tag-export-restrictions","24":"tag-fertiliser","25":"tag-financial-times","26":"tag-herbicide","27":"tag-ie","28":"tag-india","29":"tag-indonesia","30":"tag-ireland","31":"tag-pesticide","32":"tag-potash","33":"tag-potassium-chloride","34":"tag-strait-of-hormuz","35":"tag-sulphur","36":"tag-urea"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@ie\/116519538863327256","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/468833","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=468833"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/468833\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/468834"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=468833"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=468833"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=468833"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}