Fertilizer delayed is fertilizer that won't reach the fields when it matters
En Perú, transportistas y agricultores han iniciado una huelga indefinida que revela una tensión más profunda: la brecha entre las políticas fiscales del Estado y las realidades cotidianas de quienes mueven y producen los alimentos. Mientras el gobierno ofrece ajustes técnicos a fondos de estabilización, los mercados minoristas de Lima ya registran alzas de hasta 11% en productos básicos como papa, maíz y plátano. Lo que comenzó como un conflicto sobre combustibles y fertilizantes amenaza con convertirse en una crisis de seguridad alimentaria para las familias metropolitanas.
- Transportistas y agricultores paralizaron rutas y campos exigiendo exoneración del ISC al combustible y fertilizantes a tiempo, sin que el gobierno lograra sentarlos a negociar.
- El Gran Mercado Mayorista de Lima resistió el primer día con stocks al 93% y una llegada de mercadería 25% superior a lo habitual, pero ese colchón es frágil y temporal.
- En dieciséis mercados minoristas de la capital, once productos ya subieron de precio: la papa trepó hasta 11%, el maíz y el plátano siguieron de cerca, y el pollo roza los S/ 10 el kilo.
- El antecedente de junio es una advertencia: huelgas de apenas pocos días dispararon precios minoristas hasta 30%; una paralización sin fecha de término podría superar ese umbral.
- La demora en la llegada de urea —prevista recién entre agosto y septiembre— amenaza la campaña agrícola 2022-2023, sumando una crisis de producción futura a la crisis de abastecimiento presente.
Camioneros y agricultores peruanos iniciaron ayer una huelga indefinida, bloqueando rutas y silenciando campos por dos reclamos que llevan meses acumulándose: el precio del combustible y la falta de fertilizantes. Los transportistas exigen que el gobierno exonere el diesel y la gasolina del Impuesto Selectivo al Consumo, una medida que costaría al fisco unos 3.500 millones de soles. El viceministro de Transportes, Luis Rivera, descartó la propuesta y explicó que los ajustes al fondo de estabilización de precios ya habían evitado un alza de cinco soles por litro. La respuesta técnica no alcanzó para abrir el diálogo: los dirigentes del sector se negaron a sentarse a negociar.
Los agricultores, por su parte, recibieron con frustración el anuncio del ministro de Agricultura, Andrés Alencastre, de que el primer embarque de urea llegaría entre agosto y septiembre. Para quienes deben preparar la campaña 2022-2023, ese calendario llega tarde: la ventana de siembra no espera.
El primer día de paro, el Gran Mercado Mayorista de Lima mostró una calma engañosa. Los stocks alcanzaban el 93% de su capacidad, sostenidos por proveedores que se apresuraron a abastecer antes del conflicto. Solo el lunes ingresaron 6.749 toneladas de verduras, papas, granos y otros alimentos, un 25% más que un lunes típico. Era un colchón construido a las apuradas.
Pero la abundancia mayorista no protege al consumidor minorista. Un relevamiento de Gestión en dieciséis mercados de barrio de Lima reveló que once productos habían subido de precio respecto al promedio de junio. La papa yungay, canchán y única acumuló alzas de hasta 11%. El maíz y el plátano también treparon con fuerza. El pollo, alimento central de la dieta peruana, subió apenas 1,5%, pero ya ronda los diez soles el kilo, un nivel que presiona los presupuestos familiares.
El riesgo real está en lo que viene. En junio, una huelga de pocos días bastó para disparar los precios minoristas hasta 30%. Esta paralización no tiene fecha de cierre. Si los camiones siguen parados y los comerciantes anticipan escasez ajustando sus precios, el mercado mayorista puede mantenerse estable mientras las familias limeñas sienten, semana a semana, cómo el costo de alimentarse sigue subiendo.
Truck drivers and farmers across Peru walked off the job yesterday, launching what they promised would be an indefinite strike. The roads blocked, the warehouses quieter than usual, the supply chains beginning to fray—all of it stemmed from the same two grievances that have been building for months: fuel prices that keep climbing, and fertilizer that isn't arriving when farmers need it most.
The transport workers want the government to exempt diesel and gasoline from the Selective Consumption Tax, a move that would cost the treasury roughly 3.5 billion soles. Luis Rivera, the vice minister of transport, explained that this wasn't feasible—the fiscal hit was simply too large. Instead, the government had adjusted the fuel price stabilization fund, a mechanism that Rivera said had prevented prices from jumping an additional five soles per liter. It was a technical response to a political demand, and it satisfied no one. Javier Corrales, who leads the transport association, and his counterparts refused to even sit down for talks.
The farmers had their own complaint. Andrés Alencastre, the agriculture minister, had announced that the first shipment of urea fertilizer would arrive sometime between August and September. For farmers preparing for the 2022-2023 growing season, that timing was already too late. The planting window was closing. Fertilizer delayed is fertilizer that won't reach the fields when it matters.
On the first day of the strike, the Gran Mercado Mayorista de Lima—the sprawling wholesale market that feeds the capital—looked almost normal. Trucks still rolled in. Vendors still haggled. Stocks sat at 93 percent of capacity, bolstered by suppliers who had rushed to stockpile ahead of the disruption. Yesterday alone, 6,749 tons of vegetables, potatoes, grains, and other staples arrived, a 25 percent jump over the typical Monday intake. It was a buffer, hastily built.
But wholesale abundance doesn't always translate to retail calm. When Gestión reviewed prices at sixteen of Lima's main neighborhood markets, comparing early July figures to June averages, the picture darkened. Eleven of those sixteen products had risen in price. Some climbs were modest—chicken, that cornerstone of the Peruvian diet, had inched up just 1.5 percent, though it was already hovering near ten soles per kilogram, a level that strains household budgets. Potatoes told a different story. The varieties people actually buy—yungay, canchán, única—had jumped as much as 11 percent. Corn and plantains had surged too.
These numbers carried a warning. In June, when the strikes had lasted only a few days, retail prices on monitored staples had spiked as much as 30 percent. That was a short disruption. This one had no end date. If the trucks stayed parked and the farms stayed quiet, if supply tightened or if merchants began to hedge their bets by raising prices in anticipation of scarcity, the numbers could move sharply upward again. The wholesale market could hold steady at 93 percent, but the family buying dinner in a Lima neighborhood market would feel something very different—the slow, grinding pressure of food becoming less affordable, one sole at a time.
Notable Quotes
The government adjusted the fuel price stabilization fund, preventing prices from jumping an additional five soles per liter— Luis Rivera, vice minister of transport
The first shipment of urea fertilizer would arrive between August and September— Andrés Alencastre, agriculture minister
The Hearth Conversation Another angle on the story
Why did the government reject the fuel tax exemption? It seems like a straightforward demand.
The math didn't work. Removing that tax would have cost the state 3.5 billion soles—money they didn't have to give away. So they adjusted a different mechanism instead, the price stabilization fund, which they said prevented an even larger jump. But the drivers didn't see it that way. They wanted the exemption itself, not a technical adjustment they couldn't see or touch.
And the farmers—why are they striking if the fertilizer is coming at all?
Because "coming" and "coming in time" are different things. Planting season doesn't wait. If urea arrives in August or September, it's already too late for the main campaign. Farmers can't plant on a schedule that suits the supply chain.
The wholesale market looked fine on day one. Why worry about prices?
Because wholesale and retail are different worlds. The big market can be full while neighborhood markets empty out. And there's psychology too—when people sense scarcity coming, they buy more, and merchants raise prices to match. In June, a few days of strikes pushed retail prices up 30 percent. This has no end date.
Who suffers most from this?
The people buying food for their families in Lima's markets. A 11 percent jump in potato prices doesn't sound like much until you're the person deciding whether to buy less, or buy something cheaper and less nutritious. Chicken is already expensive. Everything else is following.