Global Food and Fertilizer Supply

Closure of the Strait of Hormuz amid the Iran war has choked not only oil and gas but vital petrochemical, fertilizer, sulfur and helium trade — the IEA links damage to roughly 40 energy assets across nine countries to broader supply‑chain disruptions, making Hormuz an industrial‑commodity choke point. The disruption has pushed urea prices about 30% higher, left U.S. farmers facing an estimated 2 million‑ton urea shortfall this spring (about half of global urea and half of global sulfur exports normally transit the strait) and threatens nitrogen and phosphate fertilizer production and food supplies, even as some commercial ships (notably a Chinese vessel that paid for safe passage) still attempt transit while Beijing stays officially neutral to preserve trade ties.