{"id":377644,"date":"2026-04-13T17:33:26","date_gmt":"2026-04-13T17:33:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/377644\/"},"modified":"2026-04-13T17:33:26","modified_gmt":"2026-04-13T17:33:26","slug":"strait-of-hormuz-blockade-could-further-hit-fertilizer-prices","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/377644\/","title":{"rendered":"Strait of Hormuz Blockade Could Further Hit Fertilizer Prices"},"content":{"rendered":"

Bloomberg\u2019s Weilun Soon and Clara Ferreira Marques reported<\/a> that \u201cUS President Donald Trump\u2019s plan for a full naval blockade of the Strait of Hormuz threatens to deepen an already unprecedented crisis in one of the world\u2019s most important energy-producing regions.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThe narrow waterway connecting the Persian Gulf to the wider world has become a flashpoint since the US and Israel began strikes on Iran six weeks ago. Tehran tightened its grip on the corridor in response, all but closing off a vital thoroughfare,\u201d Soon and Ferreira Marques reported. \u201cA full blockade could halt the remaining flows and threaten economies far beyond the Middle East.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cTransits have dwindled to single digits a day, down from about 135 in peacetime,\u201d Soon and Ferreira Marques reported. \u201cA US naval blockade along the lines of what was carried out off Venezuela from the end of last year could reduce that to zero, pressuring Iran but also cutting off a vital source of supply for Asian nations.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"Courtesy of Wikimedia Commons\/Pascal<\/p>\n

News Nation\u2019s Brooke Shafer reported<\/a> that \u201cit\u2019s not just 20% of the world\u2019s oil that travels through the Strait of Hormuz \u2014 it\u2019s fertilizer, too. About one-third of the world\u2019s fertilizer travels through the strait, according to the United Nations.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThat includes nitrogen fertilizers, which require liquified natural gas, and phosphate fertilizers, made from urea, ammonia and sulfur. Fertilizers are paramount to producing wheat, fruit, corn, rice and more,\u201d Shafer reported. \u201cThis blockade could drive up prices for those fertilizers, which have already spiked by more than 40% from last year. Combined with gas and diesel costs, the price of producing food will skyrocket.\u201d<\/p>\n

Trump Says He\u2019s Monitoring Fertilizer Prices<\/p>\n

Agri-Pulse\u2019s Kim Chipman and Oliver Ward reported<\/a> that \u201cfertilizer prices \u2013 particularly urea relied on for growing grains and certain fruits and vegetables \u2013 have surged since the beginning of the conflict, and are likely to stay high in the near term, analysts say. Last week saw additional price pressures after India issued a tender to import 2.5 million tons, and Bloomberg reported that China could soon ban sulfuric acid exports \u2013 a key fertilizer input.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cTrump said Saturday in a social media post that he is watching fertilizer prices closely, but focused his attention on market concentration in the U.S. economy, instead of actions overseas,\u201d Chipman and Ward reported. \u201c\u2018The United States will not accept PRICE GOUGING from the fertilizer monopoly!\u2019 he wrote. \u2018American Farmers, we have your back!’\u201d<\/p>\n

China Banning Sulfuric Acid Exports Could Hit Fertilizer Market, too<\/p>\n

Bloomberg\u2019s Julian Luk and James Attwood reported<\/a> that \u201cChina has indicated it will halt exports of sulfuric acid from May, hitting metals and fertilizer industries already strained by raw material bottlenecks resulting from the Iran war.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cSome sulfuric acid producers in the country recently received notifications about the change, and one large buyer has been told about it by their Chinese supplier, according to people familiar with the matter, who asked not to be identified discussing confidential information,\u201d Luk and Attwood reported. \u201cThe ban will cover sulfuric acid that\u2019s a by-product of copper and zinc smelting in China.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cSulfuric acid prices have been rising since the start of the Iran conflict, as the effective closure of the Strait of Hormuz blocks sulfur shipments from the Middle East, where it\u2019s a product of oil and gas refining,\u201d Luk and Attwood reported. \u201cThe region produces one third of the world\u2019s sulfur, a raw material used to make sulfuric acid that\u2019s essential for some copper extraction and phosphate fertilizers.\u201c<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Bloomberg\u2019s Weilun Soon and Clara Ferreira Marques reported that \u201cUS President Donald Trump\u2019s plan for a full naval…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":377645,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[138,219,111,139,69],"class_list":{"0":"post-377644","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-economy","8":"tag-business","9":"tag-economy","10":"tag-new-zealand","11":"tag-newzealand","12":"tag-nz"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/377644","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=377644"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/377644\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/377645"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=377644"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=377644"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=377644"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}