Perlite Shortages – COVID-19 Isn’t the Only Reason

Perlite is commonly used in soil mixes and living soils, but that’s not the only way it’s used. And therein lies a big part of the problem causing perlite shortages for cannabis cultivators.

Recently, we shared the three reasons for peat shortages and how you can reduce delays. This week, let’s take a look at why cannabis cultivators are experiencing perlite shortages and delays as well as a simple way to navigate through those challenges.

3 Reasons for Current Perlite Shortages

Where is all the perlite? There are three key reasons for the delays cannabis cultivators are currently experiencing.

1. Kitty Litter

Perlite has multiple uses other than agriculture. Since perlite is a non-renewable resource that comes directly from natural mines, there is only so much available at any given time. Everything was going well in terms of supply meeting demand until Purina discovered that perlite is an ideal additive to its kitty litter products.

It didn’t take long after making this discovery for Purina to develop a new kitty litter blend using perlite that has better odor properties and many of the benefits cat owners want. Now, Purina has an entire line of perlite-infused kitty litter, and with its massive multi-billion dollar buying power, the company has cornered the market on perlite.

The result? Perlite shipping delays and higher prices for cannabis cultivators.

2. A Global Pandemic

Just as COVID-19 added to the peat shortage problem, it also caused problems in the perlite supply chain. The world continues to face logistical problems with not enough trucks, boats, and ports to move perlite from the mines to customers.

When transportation is available to move perlite, it’s more expensive than it was pre-pandemic. The reason is a shortage of human power, which is something that affects every step across the supply chain – from not having enough workers at the mines to not having enough truck drivers to make deliveries.

3. Sources

Perlite is a highly vertically integrated industry. Companies typically procure it from one or two mines out of only 10 to 20 mines throughout the world. If one or all of the mines that a supplier sources its perlite from is experiencing shortages and delays, those shortages and delays are passed onto customers and prices go up.

How to Solve the Perlite Shortage Problem

The team at bio365 recognized the perlite shortage problem early and invested time and money into finding perlite suppliers with mining operations that were well outside of the ongoing perlite demand problem, including a rapidly scaling provider with a healthy supply of perlite.

Once we found different perlite suppliers that met our high quality standards, we locked down contracts at reasonable prices and our perlite supply is coming in consistently.

In other words, to solve the perlite shortage problem, cannabis cultivators may need to look outside of their current soil suppliers to find one that proactively sees problems coming and finds solutions that work – like bio365 did for both the perlite and peat shortage problems.

If you need living soil with perlite right now, contact bio365 and our soil experts can help you solve your shortage problems and get better results from your crops!