Hormuz fertiliser ships need urgent passage, UN says

A senior UN official urged Iran and the United States on November 14 to allow fertiliser shipments through the Strait of Hormuz, warning that shortages could deepen food insecurity and poverty in vulnerable countries.

Jorge Moreira da Silva, head of the UN Office for Project Services, told the COP31 climate talks in Antalya, Turkey, that a wider deal to end the conflict should not delay an “immediate, exceptional, limited, and time-bound” solution for fertilisers.

“Basically what we need is five vessels a day with fertilisers,” he said.

Iran has blockaded the Strait of Hormuz since a joint US-Israeli attack against Iran in late February. The United States has imposed a blockade of Iranian ports, further complicating shipping.

Moreira da Silva heads a UN task force set up to facilitate the safe passage of fertilisers during the crisis. He said a third of the world’s fertilisers passed through the Strait of Hormuz before the conflict and that prices had risen by 30 percent since the blockades.

He said countries including Mozambique, Kenya, Sudan, Somalia, Nepal, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka were facing significant impacts. He said Sudan’s finance minister had told him food prices there had doubled in six months, while officials in Nepal had said farmers could no longer afford fertilisers.

Moreira da Silva warned that if planting seasons continue to be missed, 45 million people could face severe and acute food insecurity and 30 million people could be forced into poverty. He said the UN had a system ready to get fertiliser shipments moving within seven to 10 days.