UN warns Middle East is at "breaking point" as food prices hit alarming highs. The UK Farmers' Union warns that the country is sleepwalking into a food security crisis due to soaring energy and fertilizer costs. Afghanistan is facing a devastating economic collapse and widespread food shortages under the Taliban government. Concerns are rising over the ability of Southeast Asia maintain rice exports to the world as countries such as Indonesia and the Philippines struggle to even produce enough for their own needs. “Sunflower oil prices have gone up 1,000%, but it is less about the price as the oils are often only a small constituent part of the products,”

Sri Lanka- Economic crises leads to mass anti-government protests against worsening shortages of fuel, food and medicines. 36-hour nationwide curfew declared by president. Authorities have imposed a broad import ban in an attempt to save foreign currency. 13 hour power-cuts have been ongoing for for some time in the country. Indian loading 40,000 tonnes of rice for shipment to Sri Lanka in the first major food aid. Social media ban implemented to quell protests, bypassed with VPN.

US farmers will be planting more soybeans instead of corn as they grapple with the rising cost of fertilizer. Canadian farmers see costly planting season with increase in fertilizer, diesel and labour costs. Farmers in India, Brazil and South Africa share concerns of future high food prices due to farming operational costs. A UK firm that bottles cooking oil says it has only a few weeks of sunflower oil supply left.

Germany- Minister of Agriculture says if possible people should ride a bike or take a bus/train instead of using cars to save energy. Supermarkets have even started limiting the purchase of cooking oils and flour. BMW has halted production at two German factories. Mercedes is slowing work at its assembly plants. Volkswagen, warning of production stoppages. German confectionery industry faces worse crisis in 70 years due to supply chain issues, rising raw material costs and fears that gov't will put further gas sanctions on Russia. Concerns grow over possible labour shortage due to uncertainty about the availability of harvest workers from Eastern Europe this summer.

The German government is in talks with private buyers interested in Gazprom Germania GmbH or some of its units. Germany hasn’t ruled out nationalizing parts of Gazprom Germania as a last resort. Russia's Gazprom said on Friday it no longer owned its German subsidiary. Germany would also consider nationalizing Russia's Rosneft’s business in the country. Berlin is also considering expropriating Gazprom assets by forcing the giant to sell its gas-storage facilities across Germany. Gazprom Germania and Rosneft Deutschland together account for one-quarter of Germany’s refinery business but their nationalization would see German authorities take control of them.

22 million chickens and turkeys have been culled in the U.S. since February due to an outbreak of avian influenza. Iowa state most affected. The cost of eggs has increased 52 percent since first bird flu cases. 35 million of Britain’s hens have spent the last four months cooped up to prevent spread. Quebec, Canada wildlife authorities say the first three cases of bird flu in the province have been identified among wild birds. The US Department of Agriculture (USDA) is looking into vaccines as an option to protect poultry against avian influenza.

The report by PwC shows that 80% of central banks are considering or have already launched a CBDC. Retail CBDCs have reached a greater level of maturity in comparison to their wholesale counterparts. Privacy appears to be dropping down on the priority list of those designing a new digital euro, and experts are warning that the design choices being made could make privacy harder to achieve. UK- A report into the potential effects of implementing a ‘cashless society’ has found that millions of people would be left struggling. Video- UK Maajid Nawaz warns of gov't control through CBDC's.

Kazakhstan is considering the introduction of temporary restrictions on the export of grain and flour to protect its domestic food market. The cost of delivering Ukrainian grain to the Romanian port of Constanta was 120-150 euros ($133-$166) per tonne. Before the war, traders paid around $40 to transport grain to Ukraine's Black Sea ports. Ukrainian Railways had opened 12 terminals for traders, but wagons were backing up and the railways would need two or three weeks to process them and send to consumers. US- Farmers in big wheat-growing states like Kansas are facing severe drought. record-high fertilizer prices that could lead some growers to skip applying the chemicals, potentially hurting grain quality.

The EU is expected to deliver another shock to its agricultural sector by capping Russian imports of potash fertilizer. Much of the fertilizer is purchased from Belarus and can also be slapped with new sanctions for Belarus support of Russia. The impact of capping imports will send prices even higher and create fertilizer shortages for crops. Brazilian farmers are scrambling for potash due to US & EU sanctions on Belarus. Brazil may need to resort to barter or using yuan and Chinese intermediary. Belarus controlled about a fifth of the global potash market and was a major seller to Brazil until Lithuania in January cut off a key transit route amid U.S. sanctions imposed in 2021

In an effort to cause a Russian default, the US Treasury banned Russia from making dollar debt payments from accounts at US financial institutions. Foreign banks had rejected USD bond payments, leaving Russia no choice but to send rubles to the National Settlement Depository. Neither of the bonds allows Russia the option to pay in rubles. The US blocking Russia from making USD bond interest payments to investors, can result in a technical default. Investors can claim Russia cannot afford to pay even though Russia is willing to pay in reality. At the same time, the ruble fully recovers from sanctions effects and strengthens even more than pre sanctions.

World is short of middle distillates, particularly of diesel, and now that's spilling over into jet fuel. Sanctions led to Russian feedstocks used to produce jet fuel and diesel becoming untouchable for part of the western world. China has also cut its oil product export quota, limiting jet fuel supplies. Argentina is grappling with shortages of diesel fuel that powers tractors and trucks just as the soybean and corn harvests pick up in the powerhouse crop exporter. Oil-rich Argentina produces plenty of diesel, but it also intervenes in energy markets.

EU announces new sanctions against Russia and Belarus:
- Embargo on coal imports from Russia
- Ban on Russian-operated vessels from accessing EU ports
- Ban on Belarusian road transport operators
- Export bans on advanced semiconductors, machinery and transport equipment

Coal futures contract prices skyrocket hitting all-time highs in Europe. Several E.U. countries have been importing more coal from Russia in recently, to bring down power generation costs due to the rise in natural gas prices. China purchases coal and oil from Russia in yuan. Recently, coking coal prices have been sending steel prices higher. It's about to get worse for steel manufacturing in Europe.

Finnish gov't reports a Russian aircraft violated Finnish air space off the coast of the Gulf of Finland for 3 minutes. Suspected (denial of service) (DDoS) cyberattack hit Finland's defence and foreign affairs ministries websites today. Nordea Bank has also reported disruptions to its online services affecting customer savings accounts. 2 days ago Finland’s gov't agreed to increase defense spending by 70% of 2 billion euros ($2.2 billion). Finnish government websites have a long history of being attacked/down despite a gov't report in Mar 2018 proving they had poor strategy for coordinating defences in the event of a large-scale attack. Finnish Politicians’ Email Accounts hacked in Dec 2020. Finnish ministry jobs site shutdown in Nov 2018. Finland gov't sites attacked in Aug 2018.

Russian Central Bank changes fixed price policy to account for stronger ruble. Now buys the precious metal at a “negotiated price”. The ruble jumped 20% this week alone. The bank lowered its benchmark interest rate from 20% to 17%. Cargoes of Russian Sokol crude from the Far East have sold out for next month in a sign that buyers are paying in yuan, ruble, gold or rupee. Russia’s flagship Urals crude, which is shipped from ports in the Baltic and Black Seas, has also been making its way to India and China. That’s led to the Biden administration warning India about aligning itself with Russia. Russia's allies are buying Russian crude at large discounts while the west pays exorbitant energy prices. Russia is changing trade dynamics with their allies. Any commodity of value can be used as payment to pay imports and debts.

Peru- Curfew imposed to quell anti-government protests. Protests sparked by rising fuel and fertilizer prices. Looting is reported in the capital city Lima. The government temporarily removed a tax that increases the prices of gasoline and diesel by 28% to 30%. Peru's 12-month inflation rate stood at 6.82% in March. Peru is the world's #2 copper producer. Prospect of losses for rice growers is due to fertilizer shortages driving protests.

Western media are publishing articles claiming fertilizer shortages are due to the war. No mention of the sanctions against Russia and Belarus, top exporters of ammonia based fertilizers and potash fertilizers. They are now blaming food shortages on Russia. Meanwhile, the US announced yesterday new sanctions on imports of additional types of fertilizer and pipe valves from Russia. US cattle farmers told to test their soils, to see if or what type of fertilizer would be required as a solution to farmers inability to fertilize their ryegrass. The EU's sanctions to reduce natural gas from Russia is forcing EU ammonia fertilizer factories to shut down. Presently, we are eating food (grains & root crops) produced in 2021. The real effects of these sanctions will begin to appear at year end into 2023.

ANNOUNCEMENT 1:
A special thank you to all subscribers participating on here. This channel evolved from a FB private group chat between a few friends that was censored, forcing us to move to Telegram. A special thank you to my local friends here in Trinidad and Tobago that supported me through all these years. I wrote this special article for all my subscribers and made it freely available on Substack. The article covers reserve currency history, geopolitics of the multi-polar world order and a different perspective on war of civilisations. This is simply a perspective and up for debate. Come to your own conclusions. You are free to share it.
Thank you,
Jonathan Mohan (Admin)

China's Premier Xi Jinping visits Yazhou Bay Seed Breeding Base. He stresses the crucial role of "Chinese seeds" in ensuring the country's food security. Investment in seed technology encouraged. In China, about 95% of staple food grain reaped in the country such as rice and barley are cultivated with self-developed seeds. Chinese people encouraged that homegrown seeds can provide the basic foundation for guaranteeing China’s food security. The Russian government has temporarily banned exports of sunflower seed and rapeseed in a bid to protect the domestic market. Exemption given for exports of grain seeds to Kazakhstan as it is necessary for variety renewal and variety change. Despite sanctions, western seed companies such as Bayer and Syngenta have not left Russia and continues to operate claiming global humanitarian concerns can result if they leave.

USDA - Most fertilizer prices have more than doubled from a year ago, with the price for anhydrous ammonia up 235%, nitrogen fertilizer urea up 149% and liquid nitrogen up 192%. US Farmers from various states; Texas, Tennessee, Louisiana, begin to have their fertilizer woes heard in US media reports. No mention of sanctions against Russian/Belarussian ammonia/potash fertilizer and natural gas exports. Natural gas being the feedstock for ammonia production. Hungary’s Nitrogénművek has temporarily halted ammonia production and may soon stop fertilizer production on soaring gas prices. China's Sinofert Holdings say sanctions have not affected them as they have potash reserves. Belarus and Russia are among the world’s top three producers of potash, and China is a major importer.

Kazakhstan stands to benefit from a possible European transition from Russian gas to domestic nuclear power. Kazakhstan is the 3rd largest supplier of uranium to Europe, supplying 19.2% in 2020, after Niger (20.3%) and Russia (20.2%). However, Much of the milled uranium from Kazakhstan travels through Russia before it is exported to global markets. US - Without re-examining its uranium supply chains, the U.S. energy market will be vulnerable similarly to Europe’s present situation. Nuclear power from 93 reactors currently generates 20 percent of the U.S. electric grid. Analysts get ready for bull run on uranium and miners. Japan plans to maximize the use of nuclear power to secure stable power supply. This is to prevent power supply shortages as Japan begins to sanction coal imports from Russia.