PEMEX: the Only Fertilizer Supplier

In February, Minister of Public Affairs Irma Eréndira Sandoval announced during President López Obrador’s morning press briefing that irregularities were found in the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development’s (SADER ) fertilizer program. Basing her conclusions on data from 2019, she stated that US$3.7 million worth of contracts had been identified as excess payments for fertilizers and 95,965 bags of seeds had gone missing. She added that of 275,200 bags of corns that were purchased in 2019, only 171,200 were ultimately delivered to beneficiaries of the program. Small producers, through ejido representatives, have voiced many complaints about the program’s inadequacies. In the Guerrero mountain range, it is estimated that last year 60 percent of all destined goods did not arrive. In addition, many farmers complained that the supplies arrived late in the growing season.

In response to these findings, the Ministry of Agriculture announced in early March that this year the only supplier of fertilizers would be PEMEX. The objective for PEMEX this year will be to produce for up to 500,000 producers in Guerrero, Tlaxcala, Puebla, Estado de Mexico, Morelos and Oaxaca. In a press conference, Deputy Minister of SADER, Miguel García Winder, specified that the goal would be to supply sufficient fertilizer for 1 million ha. While last year’s fertilizer was ammonium sulfate, this year’s fertilizer would be Urea. Urea has the highest nitrogen content of all solid nitrogenous fertilizers. García also stated that by March, PEMEX was already producing 9,000 tons of the fertilizer. Most of this production is taking place at the Parajitos plant in Coatzacoalcos, Veracruz. While designating PEMEX as the sole producer of fertilizers for the program may create more clarity in the supply chain, PEMEX itself was involved in the 2015 Fertinol affair. It was demonstrated that the company acquired Fertinol through an excess payment, identified as a bribery scheme.