Australia's federal government has announced a new body to manage the impacts of the US-Iran war on fertilizer imports, while easing costs on agricultural exporters by delaying the imposition of a new charge.
The fertilizer supply working group will combine key government agencies and industry organisations Fertilizer Australia and the National Farmers Federation (NFF), agriculture minister Julie Collins said today.
The group will work on securing access for Australia's sizeable agriculture sector, which sources about two-thirds of its urea from the Middle East, where the strait of Hormuz is effectively closed due to missile and drone strikes on shipping.
Additional tasks for the group include working with the competition regulator to co-ordinate and monitor supply and finding alternative sources where possible.
The announcement comes a day after Canberra moved to pass laws allowing government agency Export Finance Australia (EFA) powers to underwrite additional cargoes of critical imports, including fuel and fertilizer, because rising risk premiums are challenging independent importers.
Cost recovery charge deferred
A full-cost recovery model for regulatory services, to be implemented for agricultural exporters, due to be brought in from 1 July will now be deferred by a year to ease costs on the sector, Collins said.
The NFF welcomed the measures and said it would lobby for fair long-term cost recovery settings that would not undermine Australia's agricultural competitiveness.
Sufficient urea exists in Australia, a major grain exporter, to cover the upcoming winter crop's pre-seeding application, but more imports are needed for topdressing applications starting in June, market sources said.
Argus last assessed granular urea at A$1,350-1,420/t ($924-972/t) fca Geelong on 26 March, a A$90 increase on a week earlier.
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