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For six months, the price of fertilizer has risen. As a result, some farmers are being forced to reduce their use on the African continent. A trend that will not be without consequences.
West African farmers are the big losers in the fertilizer market this year. Prices have reached their peak. And some operators are in trouble because they have not placed their order on time.
DAP, the most widely used phosphate fertilizer, saw its price double in six months to reach $ 600 a tonne. Urea, which belongs to the nitrogen-containing fertilizer family, has suffered the same fate and remains at very high prices even though the trend is downwards.
The price of DAP victims of the explosion of the sulfur price
The reason is in the price of the components of the fertilizer, which increased. For example, the price of DAP depends on the price of sulfur, which has gone from $ 70 last summer to $ 230 today.
Another explanation is the explosion in the price of agricultural materials: it has done good for large farmers in the wallet. When they normally bought ten bags of fertilizer, they now bought 15. This creates a call to air about prices. Not to mention the increase in shipping costs.
In normal times, West African farmers already use 8 times less fertilizer per hectare than the world average according to the African Development Bank. But this year, that figure could fall further … Some countries such as Burkina Faso, Togo and Mali have barely bought fertilizer in recent months, says a Geneva dealer.
West African orders too late
The importers of input goods did not anticipate the market development, and when they wanted to place their order at the end of 2020 for delivery during the first quarter of 2021, they only had their eyes to cry in the price curve. History does not say whether they also had to comfort the farmers who inevitably in some regions start sowing today with less fertilizer … and for fear of a bad harvest next year.
Other countries like Benin are doing better. But there, for structural reasons, the president himself is invested in the cotton and fertilizer sector and knows where and when to buy so as not to end up in the international market.
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