This sounds like exaggeration or media hype to me, just because the cheapest producer of the material has been knocked out doesn’t mean the capacity for other countries to make more isn’t there
Markets are elastic, that’s part of how capitalism works, we compete against each other to sell a product and if the cheapest producer of goods in the market is out and prices go up then that gives others an incentive to come in and compete
In particular it would be good to see green ammonia expanded and higher prices may be just the incentive needed to push it along
I also highly doubt there will be any major famines out of this
Factories aren’t built overnight. Chemical processing equipment needs to be designed, ordered, built, and shipped. Capitalists need to be assured their return on capital, and this is still viewed as a temporary setback. Why spend a few billion to build a factory that might not be needed by the time it’s finished?
Production capacity of 1/4 of the world’s fertilizer is not something we just keep turned off. I expect there will be a lot of extra shifts but the price, make no mistake, will be significantly higher. Farmers won’t plant certain crops, market prices will go up, and some people will go hungry.
This sounds like exaggeration or media hype to me, just because the cheapest producer of the material has been knocked out doesn’t mean the capacity for other countries to make more isn’t there
Markets are elastic, that’s part of how capitalism works, we compete against each other to sell a product and if the cheapest producer of goods in the market is out and prices go up then that gives others an incentive to come in and compete
In particular it would be good to see green ammonia expanded and higher prices may be just the incentive needed to push it along
I also highly doubt there will be any major famines out of this
Factories aren’t built overnight. Chemical processing equipment needs to be designed, ordered, built, and shipped. Capitalists need to be assured their return on capital, and this is still viewed as a temporary setback. Why spend a few billion to build a factory that might not be needed by the time it’s finished?
Production capacity of 1/4 of the world’s fertilizer is not something we just keep turned off. I expect there will be a lot of extra shifts but the price, make no mistake, will be significantly higher. Farmers won’t plant certain crops, market prices will go up, and some people will go hungry.