LONDON, March 29. /TASS/. A delay of a month or longer in resolving the Middle East conflict could trigger an unprecedented fertilizer crisis, The Telegraph warned on March 27.
The publication noted that the US-Israeli military operation against Iran halted shipments of urea, ammonia, and sulfur for 27 "critical" days - just as the spring planting season begins in major Northern Hemisphere regions, and the winter planting season starts in Australia.
"It will be bad enough even if the Strait of Hormuz is reopened tomorrow but if the war goes on for another month or more, it is going to be a really horrifying crisis unlike anything any of us have ever seen before," Abdolreza Abbassian, former head of commodities at the United Nations’ Food and Agriculture Organization, told The Telegraph.
On March 19, International Monetary Fund Spokeswoman Julie Kozack warned that the Middle East conflict and resulting disruptions in logistics and fertilizer supplies pose significant risks for global food price inflation.