December Dryness and High Input Costs Hit Chinese Farmers

Recent smog over Beijing has Chinese corn farmers worried about 2018 production. A fertilizer price spike comes as government officials scramble to conserve the limited natural gas supply needed to heat homes in smog-affected areas around Beijing. In December 2017, PetroChina Co. stopped the sale of natural gas to fertilizer producers in Sichuan province due to the natural gas shortage. Yunnan province-based Yuntianhua United Commerce Co., Ltd. halted production of synthetic ammonia and urea as part of China’s push for blue skies. December dryness in Northeast China could be another blow to corn producers facing increased fertilizer prices and having just recovered from a 2017 drought that reduced production. As a subscriber to Gro Intelligence you can monitor Chinese corn outlook ahead of the 2018 harvest.