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SAO PAULO: Brazil is the largest importer of fertilizer in the world but it is likely to face supply problems and shortages of some, especially potash, in the months ahead as a result of international sanctions imposed on Russia following its invasion of Ukraine.
However experts say that Arab nations could step in to help agrobusinesses in the South American country cope with the shortfalls.
A week before Russia launched its offensive in Ukraine, Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro visited his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin, to discuss, among other things, Russian exports of fertilizers to Brazil. Given events since then it seems unlikely that this official visit will have any positive effect.
Twenty-eight percent of Brazilian fertilizer imports come from Russia and Belarus. In terms of potassium-based fertilizers, the two Eastern European countries supply nearly half of Brazil’s needs.
The threat of a possible crisis in the supply of potash to Brazil had already increased in mid-2021, when Western countries imposed sanctions on Belarus in response to alleged human rights violations, Marcelo Mello, the director of fertilizers at financial services network StoneX Brazil, told Arab News.
“Now, with the war, a supply crisis has become inevitable,” he added.
He estimates that demand in Brazil for potassium-based fertilizers will exceed supply by about 25 percent.
The supply of phosphate fertilizers is also under threat, given that Russia is the third-largest exporter of these in the world, but a supply shortage does not seem to be inevitable just yet, Mello said.
“But we cannot affirm that it will not happen,” he added.
According to Annelise Sakamoto, analyst of fertilizers at corporate investment bank Itau BBA, European nations and the US have been looking for alternative suppliers, given that spring is in the air in the Northern hemisphere. In Brazil, the situation will be more of a concern later in the year, she told Arab News.
The price of fertilizers will rise because of the limited supply, she added, resulting in higher costs for Brazilian producers.
“We have already been noticing the impact on corn and soybeans, the prices of which are going up,” Sakamoto said.
According to Mello, fertilizers currently account for about 35 percent of the costs of planting crops.
This week, Brazilian Agriculture Minister Tereza Cristina visited Canada, the world’s biggest producer of potash, in an attempt to secure increased supplies.
However, part of the solution might also be found in Arab countries. On March 10, Cristina met ambassadors from North African and Gulf nations to discuss increases in exports of fertilizers to Brazil. The meeting was promoted by the Arab-Brazilian Chamber of Commerce, known by the Portuguese-language abbreviation CCAB, which carried out a study of the potential benefits.
According to Osmar Chohfi, the chamber’s president, 26 percent of the fertilizers imported by Brazil currently come from Arab countries. The main exporters are Morocco, Qatar, Oman, Saudi Arabia and Algeria.
“With the European crisis, we realized that incentivizing the expansion of Arab exports could be a way of helping Brazilian agrobusiness and at the same time increase trade, which is our mission,” Chohfi told Arab News.
Along with India, Brazil is one of the main buyers of fertilizers from Arab countries. In 2021 the trade was worth $4.2 billion, according to CCAB. Nitrogen fertilizers, especially urea, and phosphates are the main types supplied by Arab nations to Brazil, Chohfi said.
“But there is also a potential for larger potash exports by Jordan. We will evaluate it,” he added.
Jordanian potash exports to Brazil were worth $70 million last year.
An increase in fertilizer exports from Arab nations to Brazil will create a few challenges, including logistical issues — there is no direct maritime route and so transit times are lengthy — and a current lack of awareness among Brazilians and Arabs of each other’s capabilities and requirements.
“We are now investigating what are the Arabs’ deficiencies and possibilities, and what are the exact needs of Brazilian importers,” Chohfi said. “In the next few days we will have a better understanding of the situation.”
The CCAB has also pointed out that there is a lack of trade agreements that could make the whole process easier. There is only one active deal, between Egypt and the South American trade bloc Mercosur, which has shown impressive results in terms of fertilizer trade in just a few years.
It was signed in 2017 and by the end of 2021, the value of Egyptian fertilizer exports to Brazil had increased by 263 percent from $78 million to $283 million.
Chohfi said that Brazil and Arab nations already engage in mutually beneficial trade in the agricultural sector and so it is only natural that in times of crisis that threaten to affect that sector, both sides would consider strengthening their relationship.
“Brazil is the best partner of the Arabs in Latin America,” he said. “It helps Arab countries to secure access to food of high quality and is the largest buyer of their fertilizers.”
Another goal of the CCAB is to promote joint ventures between Brazil and Arab nations that can expand the production of fertilizers.
“Considering their needs, Brazilian investors may be interested in directly funding production in Arab nations,” Chohfi said. “It would have strategic value for them.”
MUMBAI: Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida will encourage a unified approach on Ukraine when he meets Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi in New Delhi on Saturday, while aiming to strengthen security ties across the Indo-Pacific region.
“Since the Russian invasion of Ukraine coincides with this trip, I’d like to emphasize the importance of international unity and confirm that Japan and India will work together on various issues,” Kishida said ahead of his visit.
India and Japan are party to the Quadrilateral Security Dialogue (Quad), a security framework that also includes the United States and Australia.
Japan has imposed sanctions on dozens of Russian individuals and organizations since the Ukraine invasion that began on Feb. 24 and has been receiving Ukrainian refugees. India, however, is the only one of the four Quad members that has not condemned the invasion.
Kishida will also aim to reinforce security and economic ties with India, the world’s second most populous country and Asia’s third-largest economy.
He is expected to announce a plan to invest 5 trillion yen ($42 billion) in India over five years during this visit, Japan’s Nikkei newspaper reported.
Former Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe in 2014 announced 3.5 trillion yen in investment and financing over five years during a visit to India.
Japan has been supporting India’s urban infrastructure development and a high-speed railway based on its bullet train technology.
Japan and India in 2020 signed an acquisition and cross-servicing agreement that allows for reciprocal stocks of food, fuel and other supplies between defense forces.
SHANGHAI: China reported its first two COVID-19 deaths in more than a year, the National Health Commission said Saturday, both coming in the northeastern province of Jilin as the country faces its worst case upsurge since the pandemic’s outset.
The deaths were the first reported in China since January 26, 2021. In all, China reported 4,051 new cases on Saturday, down from 4,365 the day before.
The country where the virus emerged in late 2019 has largely kept it under control thanks to a combination of strict border controls, lengthy quarantines and targeted lockdowns, and has not reported any coronavirus-related deaths for over a year.
But the highly transmissible omicron variant is posing a stern challenge to that strategy, prompting authorities to close off cities including the southern tech hub of Shenzhen, home to 17.5 million people.
The world’s second-largest economy has gone from reporting under 100 daily infections just three weeks ago to well more than 1,000 per day for over a week.
Chinese President Xi Jinping said on Thursday the country will “stick with” its zero-COVID strategy, state TV reported.
Speaking at a meeting of China’s top leaders, Xi said the country should “continue to put people and life at the forefront, stick with scientific accuracy and dynamic-zero, and curb the spread of the epidemic as soon as possible,” according to state broadcaster CCTV.
Tens of millions of people are currently under stay at home orders across China to try and stamp out the latest outbreak.
Beijing’s communist leadership has made its handling of the pandemic a matter of political capital, saying the low death rate demonstrates the strength of its governance model.
Racing to tamp down outbreaks in multiple cities, Chinese officials have also moved to free up hospital beds over fears the virus could put the health system under strain.
Jilin province — which has reported thousands of cases over the past week — has built eight “makeshift hospitals” and two quarantine centers to stem the surge in infections.
State news outlets this week broadcast footage of dozens of giant cranes assembling temporary medical facilities in Jilin, which has only around 23,000 hospital beds for some 24 million residents.
Authorities also said people with mild cases could isolate at central quarantine facilities, having previously sent all patients with any symptoms to specialist hospitals.
The latest flare-ups have prompted long queues to form outside mass testing sites and seen tight controls at ports, raising fears of trade disruption.
KIVE: About three dozen would-be asylum seekers from Russia found themselves blocked from entering the US on Friday while a group of Ukrainians flashed passports and were escorted across the border.
The scene reflected a quiet but unmistakable shift in the differing treatment of Russians and Ukrainians who enter Mexico as tourists and fly to Tijuana, hoping to enter the US for a chance at asylum.
The Russians — 34 as of Friday — had been camped several days at the busiest USborder crossing with Mexico, two days after city of Tijuana officials gently urged them to leave.
They sat on mats and blankets, checking smartphones, chatting and snacking, with sleeping bags and strollers nearby as a stream of pedestrian border crossers filed past them. Five young girls sat and talked in a circle, some with stuffed animals.
Days earlier, some Russians were being admitted to the US at the San Ysidro crossing, while some Ukrainians were blocked. But by Friday, Russians were denied while Ukrainians were admitted after short waits.
“It’s very hard to understand how they make decisions,” said Irina Zolinka, a 40-year-old Russian woman who camped overnight with her family of seven after arriving in Tijuana on Thursday.
Erika Pinheiro, litigation and policy director for advocacy group Al Otro Lado, said the US began admitting all Ukrainians on humanitarian parole for one year around Tuesday, while at the same time blocking all Russians. There was no official announcement.
A Homeland Security Department memo dated March 11 but not publicly released until Thursday told border officials that Ukrainians may be exempt from sweeping asylum limits designed to prevent spread of COVID-19. It says decisions are to be made case-by-case for Ukrainians but makes no mention of Russians.
“The Department of Homeland Security recognizes that the unjustified Russian war of aggression in Ukraine has created a humanitarian crisis,” the memo states.
Homeland Security indicated in a statement Friday that anyone deemed “particularly vulnerable” may be admitted for humanitarian reasons on a case-by-case review, regardless of nationality.
Russian migrants in Tijuana sat off to the side of a line of hundreds of border residents waiting to walk across the border to San Diego on Friday. The line was unimpeded.
A 32-year-old Russian migrant who hadn’t left the border crossing since arriving in Tijuana with his wife about five days earlier had no plans to leave, fearing he may miss any sudden opportunity.
Within hours of arriving, the migrant, who identified himself only as Mark because he feared for his family’s safety in Russia, saw three Russian migrants admitted to the United States. After six hours, US authorities returned his passport and said only Ukrainians were being admitted.
“Ukrainians and Russians are suffering because of one man,” Mark said, referring to Russian President Vladimir Putin. He fled shortly after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
US officials have expelled migrants more than 1.7 million times since March 2020 without a chance to see asylum under sweeping authority aimed at preventing spread of COVID-19. But the public health authority, known as Title 42, is seldom used for migrants of some nationalities who are difficult to expel for financial or diplomatic reasons.
But to claim asylum, migrants must be on US soil and US officials are blocking passage except for those it wants to admit.
Even before Russia’s invasion, the United States was seeing an increase in Russian and Ukrainian asylum seekers, most trying to enter at official crossings in San Diego rather than trying to cross illegally in deserts and mountains.
More than 1,500 Ukrainians entered the US on the Mexican border from September through February, according to US Customs and Border Protection, about 35 times the 45 Ukrainians who crossed during the same period a year earlier.
Ukrainians who can reach US soil are virtually guaranteed a shot at asylum. Only four of the 1,553 who entered in the September-February period were barred under the public health order that lets the US expel migrants without a chance at humanitarian protection.
The number of Russian asylum seekers entering at USland crossings from Mexico surpassed 8,600 from September through February, about 30 times the 288 the same time a year earlier. All but 23 were processed under laws that allow them to seek asylum.
Mexican officials have been wary of migrants sleeping at the border. Last month they dismantled a large migrant camp in Tijuana with tents and tarps that blocked a walkway to San Diego.
Eager to stop another camp from forming, the city distributed a letter on Wednesday asking migrants to leave their campsites for health and safety reasons and offered free shelter if they couldn’t afford a hotel.
BEIJING: Chinese President Xi Jinping told his US counterpart Joe Biden on Friday that the Taiwan issue needs to be handled properly to avoid a negative impact on Sino-US relations, according to Chinese media.
China says Taiwan, which it views as a breakaway province to be brought back to the fold, by force if necessary, is the most sensitive and important issue in its relations with the United States.
Washington, which is seeking Beijing’s help in restoring peace in Ukraine after Russia’s Feb. 24 invasion, has no formal diplomatic ties with Taipei but is Taiwan’s most important international backer and arms supplier.
“Some individuals in the United States are sending the wrong signals to pro-independence forces in Taiwan, and that’s very dangerous,” Xi told Biden on a video call.
“If the Taiwan issue is not handled properly, it will have a subversive impact on the relationship between the two countries.”
China sailed its aircraft carrier Shandong through the Taiwan Strait, shadowed by a US destroyer, on Friday, a source with direct knowledge of the matter told Reuters, just hours before the Chinese and US presidents were due to talk.
A White House statement said Biden reiterated in the call with Xi that US policy on Taiwan has not changed, and emphasized that Washington “continues to oppose any unilateral changes to the status quo.”
China has over the past two years stepped up its military activity near the island to assert its sovereignty claims.
“(We) hope the US side will pay adequate attention” to the issue, Xi told Biden.
Taiwan’s Foreign Ministry expressed thanks to Biden for his “emphasis on maintaining the status quo of peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait, as well as his firm support for Taiwan’s security.”
It called on China to take concrete actions and condemn Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Taiwan, which rejects China’s sovereignty claims, has joined in Western-led sanctions against Russia and sent humanitarian aid for Ukrainian refugees.
Xi also told Biden that the war in Ukraine must end as soon as possible, according to Chinese state media.
All parties should jointly support the Russia-Ukraine dialogue while the United States and NATO should also conduct talks with Russia to solve the “crux” of the Ukraine crisis, Xi said.
MOKAMA, BIJAR: Celebrations of Holi, the Hindu festival of colors, were in full swing on Friday, with people joyously splashing each other with powdered dye as the pandemic showed signs of receding across the country.
Marking the end of winter and symbolizing the triumph of good over evil, Holi is observed on the last full moon in the lunar month of Phalguna with bonfires, sweets and dancing to traditional music.
Celebrations were muted for the past two years due to restrictions on gatherings as COVID-19 cases soared, but infections have come down sharply in recent weeks from more than 300,000 a day in January to less than 3,000.
“People are more free and at ease because the restrictions have been lifted,” Rajiv Mehta, president of a housing society in Noida, told Arab News.
This year, Mehta is hosting a Holi feast for all the housing society’s 2,000 residents.
“We are not as restrained as before and there is less fear of coronavirus this time,” he said. “This is an important festival for all of us and the day allows us to let loose, eat and play with colors without any restraint.”
Holi derives its name from Holika, the demon sister of evil King Hiranyakashipu in Indian mythology, who tried to forbid his son from worshiping the Hindu deity Vishnu and wanted to kill him with her help.
Hiranyakashipu ordered the two of them to sit on a burning pyre, lying to the son that his aunt, who was immune to fire, would protect him. But when the flames struck, it was Holika who burnt to death and demon king’s son survived with the help of Vishnu.
The night before Holi, Hindus burn pyres to symbolize the death of Holika and triumph of good over evil. As the next day arrives, they pelt each other with powdered pigments in an explosion of joy and equality, as color hides all class lines.
Dr. Vivek Vishvas, lecturer at Maharaja Agrasen College of the University of Delhi, said Holi, as a social festival, is “different from other festivals celebrated in India.”
“People, be it rich or poor, Hindu or Muslim, all come together to celebrate the festival. This festival is not complete without the involvement of the larger society.”
For Jai Prakash Yadav, a schoolteacher in Mokama in the eastern Indian state of Bihar, Holi is a “therapeutic.”
“It allows you to take liberties and engage in playful banter with others,” he said. “This year the virus is not creating havoc, and this has given greater freedom to play and celebrate this lovely festival.”
One doctor’s advice was to enjoy this freedom as long as you don’t not have coronavirus symptoms.
“Compared to the past two years, COVID-19 is less visible, and this has given the opportunity to people to indulge in Holi festivities this year,” Dr. Avinash Bhondwe, former president of the western chapter of the Indian Medical Association, told Arab News.
“If people want to play Holi, they should play. If they get a cold, they should get tested immediately to contain the spread of the virus.”
Arabs could save the day as war in Ukraine threatens agriculture in Brazil – Arab News
