Miguel Afonso Caetano"Since Iran choked off the Strait of Hormuz, a critical shipping route through the Gulf, attention has centred on the risk to oil flows.
The threat to food security, however, may be just as grave a risk. “You can live without your fridge or without your car for a while,” says Michael Werz, a senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations. “You cannot live if you do not have food staples.”
The impact on the global food system caused by the Iran war could be even bigger than the crisis triggered by Russia’s 2022 full-scale invasion of Ukraine, experts say.
That is a particularly serious concern for the world’s poorer countries, but the longer the conflict lasts, the more severe the food shock will become and the more people will be affected.
The initial disruption four years ago was concentrated in Black Sea grain exports before rippling out to energy and fertiliser markets. This time it is hitting several parts of the system at once.
The Gulf is at the heart of global fertiliser markets. Its production has been halted and shipments disrupted, curtailing supplies and driving up global prices.
Many other countries also depend on gas from the region to manufacture fertiliser.
Higher fuel and electricity prices are already pushing up the cost of moving, processing and cooking food."
https://www.ft.com/content/27e07c19-723a-4fce-adab-82538c350e74?syn-25a6b1a6=1
