Hormuz Disruptions Will Hit Food Prices as Well as Oil, UN Warns

The effective closure of the Strait of Hormuz amid the Iran war has rattled global oil markets. But it’s also raising food and fertilizer prices in a way that could hit poorer countries particularly hard, warned a new United Nations report.

The impact of higher energy, fertilizer and transport costs, as well as freight rates and insurance premiums, is likely to “increase food costs and intensify cost-of-living pressures, particularly for the most vulnerable,” the analysis by UN Trade and Development said.