Iran Closes Strait of Hormuz

In developed economies like the UK, margins are insufficient to justify higher fertilizer costs. Tom Bradshaw, president of the National Farmers’ Union, said the focus for UK arable farmers is on implications for 2027, with members delaying decisions that could result in planting lower-yielding spring crops.

Last week, the amount of wheat planted during the Australian autumn fell 14 percent. Svein Tore Holsether, chief executive of Yara International, the world’s second-biggest fertilizer producer, explained that farmers are not applying optimal fertilization, impacting next season’s crop yields.

The UK lost sovereign fertilizer capability in 2023 when US firm CF Fertilisers shut its ammonia plant in Ince, Cheshire.

The company now makes fertilizer at its last remaining works in Teesside, dependent on imports of ammonia from America. Last week, Teresa Ribera, the European Commission’s executive vice-president for a Clean, Just and Competitive Transition, announced that nations in the European bloc are free to compensate up to 70 percent of farmers’ additional costs due to increased prices of fuel and fertilizer, capped at €50,000 per beneficiary.

David Barton, a Cotswolds livestock farmer based near Cirencester, said his fertilizer price went up from £370 to £490 per tonne.

He described ordering delays due to Middle East issues, reducing his silage yield. Barton added that some livestock farmers are ordering now for next year at higher prices, uncertain if it is the right decision. Michael Klare, an emeritus professor of peace and security studies at Hampshire College and defense correspondent for The Nation magazine, stated that Iran is the fourth-leading oil producer and a fifth of world oil and natural gas leaves the Persian Gulf.

Klare noted the Trump administration’s attack on Venezuela occurred, drawing parallels to historical events. In 1951, the Iranians elected nationalist prime minister Mohammad Mosaddegh, who nationalized the British Petroleum holdings in Iran. U.S.

Conspired with the British to overthrow Mosaddegh and install the Shah in 1953-1954. The Shah ruled as a dictator for 15 years after installation, until the Iranian opposition overthrew him in 1979-1980. The ICC oversaw the Black Sea Grain Initiative to extract exports of grain from the region after Russia unleashed its invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.

54pm BST, by Oliver Gill, the Deputy Business Editor of The Sunday Times.