PARIS(National Times)- Even as Gulf tanker traffic slowly resumes, the road back to normal food production will be long and arduous, given the war\u2019s impact on fertiliser supplies, the UN has warned.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
With factories shuttered and soaring gas prices driving up production costs around the world, fertiliser prices have risen across the board and are unlikely to fall back easily.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cIf the Strait of Hormuz reopens immediately, i.e. not only a ceasefire but vessels moving, the impact would be significantly positive but incomplete and uneven,\u201d the Food and Agriculture Organisation\u2019s chief economist Maximo Torero said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThe FAO is clear that damage has already been done.\u201d According to Argus Media, the price of urea from the Middle East has, for example, risen by 70 per cent in a matter of weeks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Gulf countries are major exporters of nitrogen fertilisers like urea, which provides plants with nitrogen to aid green leafy growth, as well as ammonia and phosphate.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Italy notably called last week for a \u201chumanitarian corridor\u201d in the Strait of Hormuz for fertiliser as Torero warned that if high prices continue, farmers would face a stark choice: \u201cFarm the same with fewer inputs, plant less, or switch to less intensive fertiliser crops,\u201d which would reduce food supply well into next year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Torero warned the bottleneck in marine traffic since the conflict began on Feb 28 meant even if Hormuz were to reopen immediately, \u201cinfrastructure damage is not fully reversible in the short term\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
According to Kpler data, around 1.9 million tonnes of fertiliser are trapped on 41 vessels, equal to 12 per cent of all produce shipped out of the strait in 2024.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
On March 2, an ammonia plant at Ras Laffan refinery in Qatar was attacked. Plants have also suspended or reduced production in the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Iran, Jordan and Qatar, whose Qafco complex accounted for 14 per cent of global trade in urea.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Overall, about one-third of urea trade has been choked off, says the FAO. In India and Bangladesh, nitrogen fertiliser plants have slowed down, unable to cope with the soaring cost of the gas required to operate.<\/p>\n\n\n\n