CHINA has assured the Philippines that it would not freeze exporting fertilizers to the country amid the war in the Middle East, Agriculture Secretary Francisco Tiu Laurel Jr. said Wednesday.
Speaking to reporters in San Juan City, Tiu Laurel confirmed he had a meeting with Chinese Ambassador to the Philippines Jing Quan on Tuesday to tackle agriculture cooperation between the two countries.
“We had information that China will freeze the exportation of fertilizers because they also need fertilizers. The Chinese ambassador said it’s not true,” Tiu Laurel said during a media interview.
The Agriculture chief also said the government is talking to India, Russia, and even Belarus to ensure sufficient fertilizer supply for the country.
Agriculture Undersecretary Roger Navarro earlier said Tiu Laurel was talking to the ambassador of China to allow fertilizer exports to the Philippines, after curbing its export shipments of the input.
“China has 285 days of fertilizer inventory, so we forwarded a request to them,” Navarro said at a House hearing of the Committee on Agriculture and Food on Tuesday.
The DA official said the country’s fertilizer stockpile stands at 3.12 million bags across six grades — urea, ammosul, complete fertilizer, ammophos, muriate of potash (MOP), and diammonium phosphate (DAP).
Broken down, Navarro said imported stocks of urea stand at 648,909 bags; ammosul at 879,782 bags; complete fertilizer at 678,476 bags; ammophos at 284,733 bags; MOP at 429,883 bags; and DAP at 200,000 bags.
He added that additional supplies of fertilizers across these grades are already in transit, particularly 13,600 bags for urea; 158,381 bags for ammosul; 320,000 bags for complete fertilizer; 428,000 bags for ammophos; and 20,000 bags for MOP.
“We need to diversify our source of international fertilizer, especially in what we call urea or nitrogen,” Navarro said.
In the same hearing, DA-Fertilizer and Pesticide Authority Executive Director Glenn Estrada disclosed that the country sources nitrogen-based fertilizers from various countries: 18 percent from Brunei, 18 percent from China, 24 percent from Indonesia, 4 percent from Saudi Arabia, 15 percent from Malaysia, 15 percent from Qatar, and 6 percent from Vietnam.
He said that the war in the Middle East specifically affected fertilizer supplies in Qatar and Saudi Arabia, amounting to 108,000 and 33,000 metric tons, respectively.
Apart from this, Navarro disclosed that the DA is also pursuing sustainable alternatives, including organic fertilizers, regenerative farming, and smart-farming technology.
