War with Iran and China Export Bans Trigger Fertilizer Shortage
War with Iran and export restrictions from China have caused a global fertilizer shortage and price surge by disrupting sulfur and urea shipments.
A global fertilizer shortage and subsequent price surge have emerged following a war with Iran and the near-closure of the Strait of Hormuz. These disruptions interrupted the flow of approximately one-third of the world's urea and nearly half of its seaborne sulfur, while simultaneously impacting regional natural-gas and ammonia production.
The Government of China has aggravated the global supply shock by imposing export restrictions on fertilizer and sulfuric acid to protect its own domestic agricultural sector. Despite these restrictions, trade data indicates that China is not significantly draining sulfur supplies from the United States.
Recent analysis of trade flows clarifies that some sulfur shipments to China, which were previously attributed to the U.S., actually originate in Canada.
