A Narrow Strait, Global Consequences: Hormuz Strait and Fertilizer Markets
Speakers warned that disruptions in the Strait of Hormuz have sharply tightened already-fragile fertilizer markets by severing critical shipping routes and raising insurance and energy costs. The Middle East normally channels large shares of global fertilizer inputs—about 35% of seaborne flows, roughly 25% of ammonia, ~20% of phosphate and ~45% of sulfur—so even partial or prolonged disruption has driven recent price spikes (phosphates up ~22%, nitrogen ~53%) and pushed sulfur to record levels. Producers from Morocco to China are signaling output cutbacks as feedstock and logistics costs rise, and roughly 2.5–2.6 million tonnes of urea exports have already been sidelined since March. The panel stressed these shocks transmit through higher production costs, tighter availability, and volatile trade flows, creating regional shortages and complicating spring application decisions.
Agricultural Insurance: Innovations, Policies, and Pathways to Scale
IFPRI and Germany’s BMZ convened experts in Washington to assess why agricultural insurance—despite decades of attention—has struggled to scale and how new technologies and product designs could change that. Speakers highlighted innovations such as satellite and picture-based monitoring, index insurance,...