{"id":350378,"date":"2026-03-21T06:12:13","date_gmt":"2026-03-21T06:12:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/350378\/"},"modified":"2026-03-21T06:12:13","modified_gmt":"2026-03-21T06:12:13","slug":"indian-fertilizer-specialty-chemical-industries-hit-by-us-iran-war","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/350378\/","title":{"rendered":"Indian fertilizer, specialty chemical industries hit by US-Iran war"},"content":{"rendered":"

India, one of the world\u2019s largest importers of oil and natural gas, is among the countries hardest hit by breaks in the natural gas and petrochemical supply chains caused by Iran\u2019s closure of the Strait of Hormuz<\/a> in response to attacks by the US and Israel.<\/p>\n

In the Indian chemical industry, fertilizer makers were the first affected. Now, even specialty chemical makers are beginning to feel the pain. The woes of both sectors are largely due to the scarce availability of a single molecule: ammonia, a pungent gas that is a lifeline for many chemical plants. India is one of the world\u2019s leading importers of ammonia, with most of its supplies coming from Oman, Saudi Arabia, and Qatar.<\/p>\n

Mumbai-based Alkyl Amines Chemicals announced March 16 that it has suspended manufacturing of methyl and ethyl amines and their derivatives at three of its sites due to ammonia shortages.<\/p>\n

The war has disrupted the supply of liquefied natural gas, the starting material for making ammonia, the company notes<\/a> in a press release. \u201cConsequently, several Ammonia manufacturers have indicated their inability to supply the product during this period due to Force Majeure conditions,\u201d Alkyl Amines says in the release.<\/p>\n

Another Indian amines maker, Balaji Amines, also halted manufacturing due to ammonia shortages. \u201cAt present, the financial and operational impact of the shortage of this key raw material (ammonia) cannot be estimated at this point of time,\u201d Balaji Amines says in a press release<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Ajay Joshi, founder of an eponymous consulting firm that advises companies in the Indian chemical sector, says shortages of amines from firms like Alkyl Amines and Balaji Amines could have effects on the agrochemical, pharmaceutical, and personal care product industries, where amine-based chemicals are routinely used.<\/p>\n

\u201cAmmonia is hard to store. Whatever ammonia companies buy has to be used immediately. And most of the ammonia imports come from the Strait of Hormuz,\u201d Joshi says.<\/p>\n

Indian farmers are also poised to feel the impact. A recent analysis by Joshi\u2019s firm found that Indian fertilizer manufacturers, such as Chambal Fertilizers, Deepak Fertilizers, and Gujarat Narmada Valley Fertilizers & Chemicals, are vulnerable due to shortages of natural gas and ammonia, which is used to make urea, a key plant fertilizer.<\/p>\n

The Indian Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas, in a March 11 press release<\/a>, says that nearly half of the country\u2019s natural gas demand is met by imports, which have slowed significantly because of the war. \u201cFertilizer plants will receive about 70 percent supply, while refineries and petrochemical units will take a reduction of about 35 percent so that higher priority sectors can be protected,\u201d the ministry says.<\/p>\n

The Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), a US think tank, notes in a post<\/a> that the shortages are coming just before India\u2019s rainy monsoon season, when farmers ramp up fertilizer use.<\/p>\n

\u201cProlonged shipping disruptions could leave Indian farmers facing fertilizer shortages and higher input costs,\u201d CSIS notes. \u201cThese pressures extend across the region, with Southeast Asian granular urea prices jumping over 40 percent since the conflict began.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\n Chemical & Engineering News<\/p>\n

ISSN 0009-2347<\/p>\n

Copyright \u00a9
\n 2026 American Chemical Society<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"India, one of the world\u2019s largest importers of oil and natural gas, is among the countries hardest hit…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":350379,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[4386,170503,97912,114,91840,85,207,87,46,121993,1301,28757,6307,4435,161046,2201],"class_list":["post-350378","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-business","tag-agriculture","tag-amines","tag-ammonia","tag-business","tag-fertilizers","tag-il","tag-india","tag-iran","tag-israel","tag-lpg","tag-medicines","tag-natural-gas","tag-petrochemicals","tag-pharma","tag-specialty-chemicals","tag-war"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/350378","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=350378"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/350378\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/350379"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=350378"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=350378"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=350378"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}