The coronavirus outbreak in China has halted the country's agricultural imports from Vietnam and Myanmar (Burma), potentially hitting farm incomes and reducing fertilizer demand in the exporter countries.
A lack of trading activity and transportation restrictions imposed to contain the coronavirus outbreak have halted China's imports since last week, leaving containers of fruit stuck at the border towns of Muse in Myanmar and Lao Cai in Vietnam, market participants said. Melons from Myanmar and dragon fruit from Vietnam are among the agricultural products affected.
China is a significant export market for harvested fruit from Myanmar and Vietnam.
Farmers are delaying fruit harvesting and waiting for border trading to resume. The delays and reductions in exports will likely hit incomes and reduce cashflow, which could hurt domestic demand for certain NPKs — such as 15-15-15, 16-16-16, 15-10-20 and 19-9-19 — which are used for melon crops in Myanmar.
Domestic NPK demand has slowed in Vietnam and Myanmar since the fourth quarter of last year because of drought-like conditions and falling crop prices. Market participants had expected demand to increase after the lunar new year holidays, but the impact of the coronavirus outbreak on border trade in fruit means it is unlikely that domestic demand will pick up soon.
