❗️UN warns Hormuz disruption affecting harvests, food prices set to climb

Disruptions to shipping through the Strait of Hormuz are already affecting agricultural harvests, threatening to reduce crop yields and drive up food prices, the head of a UN rural development agency said on Thursday.

"The pass-through from the initial locking down of the Strait of Hormuz ... is now starting to be seen," International Fund for Agricultural Development President Alvaro Lario told Reuters.

Disruptions to fertilizer shipments linked to the Hormuz crisis, alongside rising fuel and transportation costs, are increasing expenses across the food supply chain. These pressures are being compounded by El Niño and interruptions to Black Sea wheat supplies, Lario said.

Agricultural commodity prices climbed 13% in the third quarter, with further increases anticipated in the fourth quarter of this year and the first quarter of 2027, he added.

Countries dependent on imported fertilizer, fuel and food face the greatest risks. Lario pointed to Southeast Asia's reliance on fuel imports and the Gulf region's dependence on imported food as particular vulnerabilities.