Natural gas outage in Egypt rose to 33%: Crisis in fertilizer production

Egypt has raised the natural gas curtailment affecting fertilizer plants from 20% to 33%, deepening a supply crisis for the country's fertilizer producers. MOPCO, one of the affected companies, is continuing operations with the gas still available to it. The tighter restriction comes as Egypt leans on expensive LNG imports, which raises risks for production capacity and fertilizer exports. The move matters because Egypt is a major regional fertilizer supplier, and reduced output could ripple through both domestic agriculture and export markets. Watch for further curtailment levels and any impact on MOPCO's output and Egypt's fertilizer export volumes.