“Mega Emergency” Unfolds For World’s Top Coffee Growers As Fertilizer Costs Spike

Coffee farmers worldwide are feeling the pressure of sanctions, as the Russian invasion of Ukraine sent fertilizer prices soaring, prompting concerns of declining harvests this year.

Bloomberg reports coffee farmers in Brazil, Nicaragua, Guatemala, and Costa Rica, some of the largest coffee-producing countries in the world, are having trouble affording high fertilizer costs. Some farmers are substituting organic waste as a low-cost solution to nitrogen, phosphorous, and potash fertilizers. The move, however, will result in significantly reduced harvests of the bean.

Readers may recall we published a chart pack over the weekend of how the Ukrainian conflict and resulting sanctions by western countries on Russia have choked the world of natural resources, sending prices of commodities higher as traders fear shortages.

One chart shows that Russian fertilizer exports end up in South America, a top coffee-producing region.

We noted in a separate piece that Brazil, the world’s top coffee producer, imports more than 85% of its fertilizer demand. Russia is its leading supplier, and Belarus provides 28% of the total. High prices for the nutrient and or even reduced shipments because of sanctions could jeopardize the world’s coffee harvest this year. – READ MORE