Media: Conflict in the Middle East threatens global food crisis

The conflict in the Middle East could trigger a global food crisis due to reduced fertilizer supplies.

This is reported by the Financial Times (FT).

"According to experts, the war in the Middle East could lead to a global food crisis. <…> A fertilizer shortage threatens food production on many continents," the article states.

As the publication reports, the escalation of the conflict has disrupted supplies of urea – the world's most widely used nitrogen fertilizer. Of 2.1 million tonnes of urea, approximately half did not reach the market. According to the French analytics firm Kpler, more than 1.1 million tonnes of fertilizer have accumulated in the Persian Gulf.

"Nitrogen fertilizers, which account for about half of global food production, are derived from ammonia using natural gas, the price of which has surged since the start of the war in the Middle East," writes FT. This region is at the center of global fertilizer and energy supply chains.

About a third of global urea exports pass through the Strait of Hormuz, which was previously blocked by Iran. Due to natural gas shortages, factories in some Asian countries have suspended production of these fertilizers. Since the start of the Middle Eastern conflict, the price of urea has risen by more than 40%.