Hawzah News Agency- Most people know Hormuz as an energy artery, the passage through which a fifth of the world’s oil and gas move. But that description is too narrow. Hormuz is also a corridor for food, fertilizer, and the raw materials required to grow food elsewhere. When transit is disrupted, the shock does not stop at the pump. It hits grain markets, shipping rates, insurance premiums, and, before long, the dinner tables of families far from the Gulf.
The restriction of maritime traffic through Hormuz has driven up oil prices as high as $119 barrel and gas prices to over $4 per gallon on an average in the U.S. The prospect of liquefied natural gas (LNG) shortages looms over the Asian countries that purchase almost all Persian Gulf LNG exports, with fertilizer plants pausing operations in Bangladesh, schools closing in Pakistan, and India and Japan turning to coal as much as possible.
Many of the world’s agricultural powerhouses rely on imported fertilizer, including the U.S., India, Brazil and Australia. Even countries that produce much of their own fertilizer will face challenges as food prices rise, among them China, still one of the largest wheat importers.
Source: AOL
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