The Malaysian Insight

FARMERS and planters have raised concerns over the escalating price of fertilisers brought about by the Russia-Ukraine war, saying they are facing a possible crisis.

The war, they said, had impacted the global supply chain of fertilisers Malaysia imports and now fear that farming could be an unprofitable business as the short and erratic supply had caused prices to balloon.

Durian planter Tan Sue Sian told The Malaysian Insight that there was now a shortage of both chemical and organic fertilisers commonly used by durian farmers in the market.

The Top Fruits managing director added that some of the companies selling fertilisers are no longer accepting orders.

He said companies will inform farmers when stocks are available and they would be sold on a first-come, first-serve basis.

“Companies are just afraid to accept orders because they are uncertain of what the supply would be like. Prices vary from day to day,” Tan added.

Tan said the Covid-19 pandemic had impacted fertiliser’s global supply chain to a degree that nervous farmers began stocking up when supply fluctuated and prices started to go north.

But overstocking has its downside, he said.

Fertilisers, particularly chemical ones, have a shelf life.

If they are not used within their shelf life, the fertilisers will lose their effectiveness, he said.

Tan said he has enough fertilisers in stock until the first harvest of the year sometime in June.

If supply continues to be a problem, he fears his second harvest at the end of the year could be impacted, which could affect his durian exports to China.

“I now have to take new orders with caution. I dare not take new orders if the supply is uncertain.”

Tan said at the end of last year, the price of fertiliser had increased by 30% when Covid-19 impacted the supply chain.

At the beginning of this year, it increased by another 20%.

“The price of one tonne had almost doubled, from RM2,200 to RM4,000.”

Tan said some planters foresaw what was coming when Russia invaded Ukraine and began buying all the fertilisers that were available.

“They were worried that the supply chain would not return to normal in a short time even if the war stopped.”

The durian planters’ worries are, however, not all about the prices, Tan said.

Tan said if durian trees were not fertilised, the yield would be reduced by 70%.

The fertiliser price spike caps a bad year for durian planters, he added.

He said prices of raw materials and transport costs have also increased.

At the same time, the salaries of employees had increased, making his company’s operational costs go up by 30%.

Tan said if the price of raw materials continues to spike unabated, he foresees the price of durians could go up by 20%.

Eric Chan, the managing director of Dulai Fruits Enterprise, said durian farmers have to live with the price hike.

He said planters had no choice but to use fertilisers even if the prices shoot up if they want a good harvest in June.

“We buy more fertilisers than usual when they are available. Fortunately, my company has enough to last until November.”

Chan said the sad thing was that durian planters could not simply fix the price of their fruits.

“It all depends on market demand.”

He said even if the harvest was good but the demand from China had not increased, then the price of the fruit stayed low.

Situation under control for veg farmers

Malaysia Federation of Vegetable Farmers Association president Lim Ser Kwee meanwhile advised vegetable farmers and fruit farmers to use any chemical or organic fertilisers that are available in the market.

Lim said vegetable farmers, unlike durian planters, were not facing a fertiliser shortage at the moment.

He said he had advised them that if the usual brand they use is out of stock, they should choose another brand.

“We are just worried that if the war in Ukraine prolongs, there will certainly be a shortage of raw materials for making fertilisers and that would lead to a shortage.

“The price of fertilisers will definitely skyrocket then,” he said.

In March last year, the price of fertiliser for vegetables was between RM120 to RM130 per packet. Currently it costs RM160.

Lim said the price had shot up to RM200 per packet at the beginning of the year when urea, one of the raw materials commonly used in the making of fertilisers for vegetables, ran out of stock.

He also said one of the problems faced by vegetable farmers was in stocking their fertilisers.

“They could not stock more than 100 packets at any one time.”

He said 0.4ha required three to five packets of fertilisers.

Counterfeit stuff

Lim said he was worried about the appearance of “cheap, counterfeit fertilisers” in the market.

“Because it’s cheap, farmers have the tendency to buy them in large quantities. However, I have warned farmers not to buy these cheap fertilisers as they have the potential to damage the vegetables and cause side effects on humans.”

Lim said he had sought the assistance of the Agriculture and Food Industries Ministry to ascertain the quality of the cheap fertilisers but was told the ministry does not have a dedicated testing facility.

A test to review the composition of fertilisers could be very expensive in the ministry’s limited testing facility, Lim said.

He added the report could take months.

“So I can only caution members that cheap is not really good.”

An oil palm smallholder, Paul Wong, said cultivators in his sector were seeing costlier imported fertilisers.

A packet from Japan now costs RM200, he said.

Malaysia, he added, imports its fertilisers.

For the moment, smallholders like him could afford the fertilisers because the price of oil palm was “very good”.

The price of oil palm last quoted was RM4,500 per tonne. – March 17, 2022.