Brussel, Frankfurt (16/11 – 23)

A levying of embargoes and export bans, the imposition of sanctions, erection of fearsome “license” (= restriction) protocol: there’s nothing new about this back-and-forth in world trade, in the eternal jousting for advantage among markets and nations. The clever Chinese imagined they had the world tea market all locked up until an earnest Scottish botanist carrying the telling name of “Robert Fortune” snuck into the Middle Kingdom to observe their agriculture, steal tea plants, and pick up tricks of tea processing. The Chinese global tea monopoly was busted wide open.

The fortunate Mr. Fortune was actually in the employ of the insidious British East India Company; today tea is happily cultivated on every continent except Antarctica.

The Government of India is currently banning the export of onions. Read it and weep.

The USA did not approve of Japanese expansion throughout Southeast Asia in the late 1930s, and embargoed oil and rubber, among other critical items. This more or less forced Japan to go to war against the west. Thus Pearl Harbor and the ensuing four years of tragedy in the Pacific.

Readers should all be familiar with the European/American sanctions on the Russian Federation, attempting to cripple their economy for having started a “Special Military Operation” to halt the oppression and killing of ethnic Russians in eastern Ukraine. Guess who engineered that mess, a conflict now looking lost and forlorn for the noble democracies.

It’s China’s turn. American politicians, many in the pocket of super-affluent Chinese banks and state-controlled industries, have to be portrayed as “fighting China” so they go through the motions, by imposing chip technology export restrictions on what just happens to be their largest banker, supplier of consumer goods and trading partner.

China now responds, in what is essentially a Punch’n’Judy show, by erecting complex “export license” restrictions on gallium and germanium, rare earths technically classified as “minor metals”, not commonly encountered in nature, or refined as the by-product of other processes.

Note that these materials are used in the production of microchips critical to military applications, so it is not surprising that their export would be curtailed.

The Americans are attempting to impede the development of “advanced microprocessor technology”, a sweeping term covering a very large area of consumer, industrial and official applications, by the PRC.

According to the Critical Raw Materials Alliance (CRMA), an industry organ, China is the source of 80% of the world’s gallium and 60% of its germanium. You can be certain that miners around the globe and digging through their tailings to extract any of this trace material.

The export bans are doomed to fail, just as the manifold sanctions on Russian oil and gas have been handily circumvented by buyers and refiners everywhere.

China, like Russia, is acting carefully and prudently in these reprisals and counter-reprisals, assuming that the USA and its Euro-vassal are skidding downhill, with a soon-to-be-worthless currency, but are still dangerous. In short, the Americans are assumed to be insane.

Pause for a moment and imagine what would happen if the People’s Republic of China, producer of ~90% of the antibiotics sold in the United States of America, decided that they’d prefer to keep their medications at home, just in case, or perhaps market them somewhere else. Or that they would demand payment in Renminbi, on par with the wobbly dollar. No antibiotics? No problem.

That’s how crazy it’s getting.  

The post A Tit-for-Tat with Uncle Sam: China Puts the Screws on Exotic Mineral Exports appeared first on Ankara Haftalik.

According to the Tajikistan Ministry of Agriculture, the number of greenhouses in the country is increasing every year. “There are 950 greenhouses operating across the republic with a total area of 166 hectares, while in 2020 greenhouses occupied only 101.5 hectares. To this day, vegetables have been planted in greenhouses on an area of 43.9 hectares, including tomatoes on 16.2 hectares, cucumbers on 9.3 hectares and other types of vegetables on 18.5 hectares, as well as citrus fruits. Sowing in greenhouses continues,” the ministry said.

Tajikistan’s commitment to agricultural innovation is evident in the continuous evolution of greenhouse cultivation methods. Alif Tolibov, the director of the Institute of Horticulture and Vegetable Growing, highlights five approaches, emphasizing the importance of selecting crops suitable for each method and prioritizing disease and pest-resistant varieties.

Geographical advantages, fertile soil, a skilled workforce, a mild climate, and an established market position in Tajikistan are favourable for greenhouse expansion. The success stories of farmers like Madjid Shoyev, who cultivates Meyer lemons, and Azamat Abdurakhmonov, who produces thousands of tomato seedlings, showcase the profitability and potential of greenhouse farming.

As an example, an experienced grower from the Ozodagon jamoat, Pyanj district, Khatlon region, Majid Shoev is interviewed. He built greenhouses with an area of 7 acres on his personal plot, where Meyer lemons grow. This type of subtropical plant grows well in greenhouses.

“Over many years of practice, local breeders managed to create a variety of citrus fruits that are resistant to external influences and even transfer seedlings of young lemon trees to other farms. In the first greenhouse there are 120 bushes over 5 years old, and in the second – 50 seedlings of three years old. Of course, the work has its own nuances. To get the desired harvest, it is necessary to follow agrotechnical rules. Lemon seedlings begin to produce a good harvest after three years. Seedlings over 5 years old yield up to 80-90 kilograms, and three-year-old seedlings yield up to 30 kilograms,” said Majid Shoev.

Growing lemons, he said, despite certain subtleties, is a profitable industry.

Tomato seedlings

According to another agrarian from the village of Chorbog jamoat Ishmurod Niyazov, Kubodiyonsky district, Azamat Abdurakhmonov, up to 30 thousand tomato seedlings are grown in his greenhouse with an area of 1 hectare. Depending on the season, the greenhouse employs up to 20 local people. On average, the greenhouse can harvest 61 tons of crops per year, including 36 tons of tomatoes and 25 tons of cucumbers.

“To grow vegetable crops, it is necessary to monitor soil and air humidity, temperature, provide the plants with sufficient light, regularly fertilize them, and fight pests and diseases. Greenhouses allow you to harvest several crops a year. The harvest season in greenhouse conditions begins in November and lasts until May,” he explained.

These efforts contribute to local markets’ winter resilience and also hold the promise of stabilising prices. As Tajikistan continues to invest in and adopt advanced agricultural practices, the expansion of greenhouse areas signifies a positive trajectory for the country’s agricultural sector, the director says.

Source: Horti Daily

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