Mr. Eddie Punch:

The war shows the need for more transparency and the need for the Minister to be more proactive in investigating this whole market. In practice, there are two schools of thought. Obviously, Russia is a player in fertiliser at a global level. It is the second biggest in fertiliser production. It is a significant player in potash and in ammonia, which is needed for the manufacture of fertiliser in Europe. On the other hand, it is true to say as well that there are many places one can get fertiliser. It is manufactured in Europe. A lot of urea is brought out of north Africa. What seems to have happened is there was a big panic in markets around natural gas as soon as this war kicked off. Natural gas started going up until it reached $9.75 in August 2022. Some of the European manufacturers slowed down or limited production, because the cost of the gas was so high, to protect their own costs of production. However, somehow, they managed to come out on the correct side. I saw recently that the top nine world fertiliser producers are in line for $57 billion in profit between them. Things are going well in the fertiliser sector for those on the right side of this equation.