MANILA (Bloomberg): The Philippines is in discussions with major fertilizer producers including China and Russia to safeguard supply on fears exporters won’t deliver on contracts as the Middle East war keeps prices high.
Agriculture Secretary Francisco Tiu Laurel Jr. said he’d met with Chinese Ambassador to Manila Jing Quan, who assured him that Beijing will not freeze exports. The Southeast Asian nation’s stockpiles of fertilizer are sufficient to last through May, he said.
"We’re also in talks with India and Russia,” Tiu Laurel told reporters on Wednesday. "We will be talking to Belarus also to make sure that we have supply of fertilizers moving forward.”
Farmers worldwide are rushing to secure fertilizer after the effective closure of the Strait of Hormuz, through which around a third of global supply typically flows. The war is also pushing up prices of liquefied natural gas, which is used to produce fertilizer. In Southeast Asia, prices for urea, a common nitrogen fertilizer, are up about 40% since the outbreak of the war, Green Markets data shows.
Some urea plants in India and Bangladesh have shut down or moved up annual maintenance due to faltering gas supplies, while China has moved to tighten restrictions on fertilizer exports. Any shortages in the Philippines could affect its rice crop, the country’s staple food, as well as hurting exports of coconut oil and bananas.
The Philippines has bought about 84% of the country’s fertilizer needs for this year, but is uncertain if all of that would be delivered, Tiu Laurel said.
"There’s no country that has stopped the sale of fertilizer to us, which is confirmed by China. It’s not a matter of supply. It’s a matter of price,” he said.
The government is also considering imposing a price ceiling on imported rice, Tiu Laurel said earlier this week, to keep prices and inflation in check.
"We have a good supply of food, rice and all basic goods,” Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. said while on a visit to food markets in Manila on Wednesday. "So we’re telling our countrymen, there is no need to hoard and we are not lacking in food supply.”
--With assistance from Megan Durisin. -- ©2026 Bloomberg L.P.
