Fertilizer shortages resulting from sanctions on Russia are now affecting coffee farmers. In Nicaragua, coffee farmers are slashing fertilizer purchases just to make ends meet. In Guatemala, growers are diluting nutrients to stretch scarce supplies. In Costa Rica, producers are betting that their soil holds enough lingering nutrients to carry them through the next planting season. Unaffordable fertilizer and delayed rain affecting coffee farmers in Kenya. Last week, the Green Markets North America Fertilizer Price Index jumped almost 10% to an all-time high. Photo- Coffee futures price-Potash fertilizer producers - Urea (nitrogen based) fertilizer price.

Russia will sell energy resources to unfriendly countries for rubles/ gold, while processing payments from friendly countries in their national currencies (yuan, lira, dinar), maybe even bitcoin too. Putin added that “Russia will continue to supply gas in accordance with the volumes and according to the pricing principles concluded in the contracts”. “Only the currency of payment will change”. Tying the ruble directly to oil/gas makes it “sound money” of sorts. Ruble rebounds on news and recovers losses from last month. The US Treasury issues a warning that gold-related transactions involving Russia may be subjected to sanctions. IMF concerned that Western sanctions on Russia, & confiscation of Russian USD/EUR reserves, could backfire by making other countries more reluctant to hold their own foreign reserves in USD/EUR.

Breaking - Video compilation of Saudi Arabia's Aramco facility in Jeddah hit a few hours ago by a an alleged Yemen/Iranian backed Houthi rebel missile launched at the facility. This is the second attack in the past week. Oil was trading down for the day and then quickly rose, with UK Brent crude @ $120 & US WTI @ $113 per barrel. Videos emerged on social media from observers. Updates in comments.

U.S. distillate fuel oil inventories, the category including diesel, fell by 2 million barrels to 112 million barrels last week. A statistical analysis update from ZeroHedge.

Update on NATO action plans in Ukraine while Russia creates a new economic reality.
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*This channel has no affiliation with SouthFront.

German authorities are preparing the economy for possible energy rationing. Numerous companies have contacted legal firms because they have received letters from their natural gas suppliers telling them that their energy supplies may be rationed or shut down in the future. The bosses of three of the largest commodity traders - Vitol, Gunvor and Trafigura - estimate that up to 3 million barrels of oil and its products could be lost from Russia every day as a result of the sanctions. Diesel is therefore most threatened by a "systemic" shortage. German government plans to fund a one-off €300 energy allowance for workers. Germany was the most expensive major European economy in terms of petrol gas prices most recently, as a gallon was going for $9.12. EU energy dependence infographic in the comments.

UK - Inflation up to 6.2% in February, highest level since 1992. Sunflower oil prices have more than doubled. The gov't relaxed rules to allow food producers to replace sunflower oil with alternatives without updating the packaging. Customers will no longer be able to buy free-range eggs in supermarkets after British hens spent the last four months indoors due to the risk of avian flu outbreaks. Milk production is starting to fall as sharp rises in cost of fuel, feed, and fertiliser outstrip increases in farm-gate prices. Firing of port workers by P&O may lead to shortages of fresh products like vegetables, fruit and cheese.

High natural gas prices in Europe results in ammonia (NH3) fertilizer (Western Europe NH3 Index) 4x up from a year ago. Sanctions on Russia has prevented European natural gas suppliers from sourcing more gas that has already been contracted for with Russia and are unable to make new contracts because Russia is cut-off from SWIFT/sanctions on doing business/prevention from buying rubles to pay Russia in a new contractual agreement as a result of sanctions. In addition, NH3 fertilizer suppliers unable to buy Russian produced NH3 (Russia is a major NH3 exporter to the world). The North America fertilizer index has doubled in the past year. World food security now at risk resulting in food price inflation.

Cyber Security week update- Google issued the warning that Chrome on Windows, macOS and Linux is vulnerable to a new ‘zero-day’ hack. Chrome security update required. LAPSUS$ hacking group has hit Microsoft, getting into Azure DevOps source code repositories and leaking source code for Cortana and several other Microsoft projects. A Windows local privilege escalation zero-day vulnerability that Microsoft has failed to fully address for several months now, allows users to gain administrative privileges in Windows 10, Windows 11, and Windows Server. Windows releases security update patch. Microsoft said that the hackers had “limited access” to source code. LAPSU$ seems interested in holding the source code ransom for profit.

WTO warns sanctions against Russia from Western countries are driving up global food prices, as Black Sea ports used to export grain remain blocked which is crucial for survival for 35 African countries. China’s pig farmers, suffering record losses due to surging feed costs, switching to lower quality grain from pricier soymeal. Sanctions on world's #3 & #2 potash fertilizer producers Belarus & Russia drives high costs for farmers worldwide with high diesel prices making it worse. Nearly 100,000 Italian farms are on the verge of closure due to skyrocketing diesel, fertilizers, fodder and seeds costs. 70% of aggregate potato production in Cyprus has been destroyed due to frost wave. Maine, US potato growers expecting hit after potato processing plant.

Shortages of fertilizer due to sanctions on major ammonia (NH3) and potash fertilizer producers Russia and Belarus is worsening. The Ghana Cocoa Board warns of fertilizer shortage for farmers. NH3 on Tampa US Price Index surge to record high of $1,625 per metric ton. Virginia, US farmers say NH3 and phosphate fertilizer prices are not sustainable. If Russia bans grain exports to the world due to all out sanctions by the west, severe grain shortages will result. Pennsylvania, US farmers see 70% fertilizer price increase in last year. Black Sea cut-off for trade, shippers say Baltic Sea even more costly to get Russian and Belarussian fertilizer.

My brother Mike at Rethinking The Dollar published this huge development in Russia covering gold and the ruble. I recommend you watch it here. You can see more of his presentations @ https://news.1rj.ru/str/rethinkingthedollar

US - A new congressional bill to launch a large-scale test of digital dollars as an alternative to credit cards or crypto. US digital dollar could be used for taxation and other purposes, such as tracking spending habits, but many people may be uncomfortable with the degree of surveillance that would be possible. Singapore and Cambodia to create CBDC to fortify E-Commerce. The central banks of Australia, Malaysia, Singapore, and South Africa alongside the Bank for International Settlements (BIS) have jointly developed prototypes for a common platform enabling international settlements using multiple CBDC's. The UAE and other Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) region are technologically equipped to roll out CBDC's. Banco Central do Brasil (BCB) has selected Giesecke+Devrient’s (G+D’s) CBDC solution Filia for its dual offline payment capabilities.

Russian Central Bank pegged 1 gram of gold to 5,000 rubles. Russia will not supply gas for free if the EU refuses to pay in rubles. The sanctioning countries that have breached all their natural gas contracts with Russia's Gazprom who is is expected to develop a "transparent and understandable system" in both technical and logistical terms. Gazprom's new system will move the ruble to be tied to energy and technically in gold. As a result, the ruble began a massive strengthening vs the USD and is almost back to pre-sanction levels. Russian gold and silver refineries have been banned from the largest global trading markets in gold and silver.

Avian influenza (bird flu) continues to spread in US and UK, forcing farmers to cull flocks. USA- Iowa, commercial poultry facilities have culled nearly 1.53 million birds this week. Total birds died or culled is near 15 million in the US in the past 2 months. The USDA wants the birds in the infected facilities to be destroyed within 24 hours to prevent the virus' spread. 150,000 birds have been culled in Suffolk, UK in March. Albania is reporting pelican and chicken deaths, with culling started for infected birds. Canadian farmers taking precautions. The risk to humans remains low.

US President Biden expected to call for the release of 1 million barrels per day over several months from the nation’s Strategic Petroleum Reserves currently holding roughly 568 million barrels of crude oil. U.S. road traffic volumes have recovered to pre-pandemic levels. US diesel stocks more than 20% below the pre-pandemic average. OPEC+ meeting today, expected to maintain existing output. Supply chain bottlenecks are putting a cap on US Shale short term output growth. Are global warming fanatics war on fossil fuels enflaming inflation?

South Europe fears livestock culls due to feed shortage as a result of decrease in Russia/Ukraine grain exports. Hungary, Serbia and Moldova are banning animal feed exports. U.S. division of the world’s biggest meat producer, JBS, says high prices for American beef would be continuing. Sri Lanka faces feed shortage resulting in 40% contraction in egg production. Northern Ireland dairy farmers struggling to cover expenses due to rising production costs, putting milk supply at serious risk. Animal feed in the Caribbean increases 12%. China’s pig farmers, suffering record losses due to surging feed costs. Update: Large fire ongoing at animal feed factory in Staffordshire, England, UK.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has signed a decree today, demanding ruble gas payments for buyers from so-called "unfriendly" countries. Putin explained that Russia "supplied gas" to Western states which "paid us in euros, which they themselves froze.” In the past few days the ruble has almost returned to it's original rates prior to the sanctions. Putin has ordered for special accounts for gas payments to be opened at Gazprombank which will sell gas FX on a Moscow exchange.

EU- The ECON and LIBE committees voted to approve a proposal that would require cryptocurrency service providers, such as exchanges, to collect personally identifiable information from individuals who transact more than 1,000 euros using so-called un-hosted cryptocurrency wallets. India- Finance Bill approved on tax rules to impose a 30% crypto tax on digital asset holdings and transfers. Apart from that, traders cannot offset their losses against profits, and each trading pair will be considered independently for tax deductions. Update- The Bank of Japan has warned G7 nations that a common regulatory framework for cryptocurrencies needs to be introduced quickly.

French march inflation up to 5.1% y-o-y, the highest record since EU-harmonised data stared in 1997. German march inflation up to 7.6% y-o-y and similar high rate was last recorded in autumn 1981, when mineral oil prices had jumped as a consequence of the first Gulf war. Italian march mark inflation up to 7.0% y-o-y, highest level since early 1990s. Spanish march inflation up to 7.9% y-o-y, consumer prices were up 9.8%, the fastest pace since May 1985.

Neon, a critical gas in semiconductor manufacturing, fall to worryingly low levels in the midst of an ongoing chip shortage. Neon is required for the lasers that are used in a chip production process known as lithography, where machines carve patterns onto tiny pieces of silicon. Electric vehicles use double the chips of gas cars. More than half of the world’s neon (250 tons) is purified by a handful of Ukrainian companies. Neon is a by-product of large-scale Russian steel manufacturing which is then transported to Ukraine to be purified.