A global rise in urumn prices with the stop of major producers in the Middle East

Uripresses, one of the most important components in the fertilizer industry, have risen sharply at the global level in collaboration with the increase in violence in the Middle East, which threatens to limit supplies of these basic agricultural material from a region that is one of the most important areas of producers and exporters. According to the estimates of Bloomberg Intelligence, about half of the world’s export of urea is extracted from manufacturing facilities located to the Persian Gulf, but the recent strikes in the region are compromising these supplies. Egypt and Iran have already reduced their production, two countries alone formed about 20% of the global urea trade last year, according to Chris Lawson, head of the fertilizer unit at Cru Group. Urea is the most commonly used nitrogen fertilizer in the world, which offers an essential element that supports global food production. Immediate urumn prices in the US Golf Coast, a global reference index, jumped by about 16% over the past week, according to the data of ‘green markets’, while prices in the Middle East increased by 11%. In Egypt, fertilizer factories have stopped working since June 13 due to the suspension of gas flow from the most important Israeli gas fields, according to informed sources asked not to be identified due to the public lack of the subject. The sources added that the resumption of natural gas supplies to fertilizer factories was postponed another week after the US air strikes on Iran. As far as Iran is concerned, it has closed all its seven facilities for the production of ammonia and urea, according to Lawson, who confirmed that he had obtained this information from local sources. Lawson pointed out that prices are likely to rise this week, emphasizing that the crisis has already disrupted the global trading flow. He explained that India has failed to secure sufficient quantities within a modern tender, while Europe has withdrawn. In the event that poor production continues, countries that depend on Iranian products such as Brazil and Turkey will have to search for alternative sources in the coming weeks.