Gulf shipping disruption risks fertiliser shortages and food price shock
Mar 5th 2026
Shipping stoppages in the Strait of Hormuz are disrupting fertiliser raw material flows and gas supplies, driving up prices and threatening crop yields and food costs worldwide.
- The effective closure of the Strait of Hormuz has mostly stopped shipping that carries about a quarter to a third of global fertiliser raw materials and a fifth of seaborne oil and gas.
- Ammonia and nitrogen shipments are being disrupted and those chemicals are essential inputs for most synthetic fertilisers.
- Roughly half of global food production depends on synthetic nitrogen, so fertiliser shortages would likely reduce yields and raise prices of staples and animal feed.
- The Gulf is a major source of fertiliser inputs, with Iran the fourth-largest exporter of urea and the region supplying about 45 percent of traded sulphur and large volumes of gas that account for 60 to 80 percent of nitrogen fertiliser production costs.
- Egyptian urea prices have risen more than 25 percent to roughly $625 per tonne and most farmers currently have only short term stocks, raising the risk of higher grocery inflation and tighter farm margins.