The escalating conflict in the Middle East is directly affecting China’s supply of sulfur – the raw material for producing fertilizer – as the country enters its crucial spring planting season.
China relies on imports for 47 percent of its sulfur supply, according to a December report by Guosen Securities. More than half of those imports come from the six Persian Gulf states, which ship goods through the Strait of Hormuz to international markets.
But Iran has announced that the waterway is closed to commercial shipping amid a war between it and the United States and Israel, causing freight costs to rise.
Allan Pickett, executive director of fertilizer research at S&P Global Energy, said the price of fertilizer delivered to mainland China averaged US$520 in January and February. Prices were already rising as one of the northern hemisphere’s main planting seasons began, and shipping disruptions in the Strait of Hormuz could push them higher, he added.
