Fuente de la imagen, Getty Images
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- Autor, Ángel Bermúdez
- Título del autor, BBC News Mundo
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Tiempo de lectura: 8 min
More than a week after the start of the war between the United States and Israel against Iran, the effects of the conflict are being felt in the global economy.
On March 9, the price of Brent and WTI crude oil, benchmarks for the international market, surpassed $100 a barrel for the first time since 2022, though prices later fell below $95 that same day.
In comparison, on February 27, the day before hostilities began, Brent and WTI crude oil were trading around $70 a barrel.
This increase in fuel prices is largely due to the virtual closure of maritime traffic through the Strait of Hormuz, after the Iranian government threatened ships attempting to cross the waterway, which carries approximately 20% of the world’s oil, and gas.
While an increase in oil – and gasoline – prices was expected given the conflict’s involvement of Iran and the Strait of Hormuz, experts predict the repercussions will be felt in other areas of the economy and around the world.
BBC Mundo details three of these effects.
1. Food Production at Risk
Fuente de la imagen, Getty Images
The current conflict affects important fertilizer exporters.
Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates are four major global exporters of nitrogen fertilizers, according to data from the Observatory of Economic Complexity.
This type of fertilizer is produced from natural gas and is used in crops that produce about half of the world’s food supply.
While most fertilizer-producing companies in the region have continued to operate despite the war, Qatar Energy, one of the leading urea producers, had to suspend operations after the supply of gas was interrupted last week due to attacks by Iran using drones and missiles.
the benefits of these companies continuing to operate are limited by the fact that they are unable to export their fertilizers due to the closure of the Strait of Hormuz, through which a third of the world’s fertilizer supply passes, according to Bloomberg.
Adding to this, Iran is as well a fertilizer exporter and China’s decision at the end of 2025 to suspend exports of phosphate fertilizers and severely restrict urea exports until August 2026, in order to guarantee supply to local farmers.
According to the Observatory of Economic Complexity, China is the world’s leading exporter of nitrogen fertilizers.
As a result of all this, fertilizer prices have already begun to rise significantly. At the Port of Fresh Orleans, the main gateway for these products to the U.S., the price of fertilizers rose from $516 per metric ton to $683 during the first week of the war.
And this situation comes at a time when farmers in the Northern Hemisphere are preparing to begin planting, further complicating the outlook.
According to data from the American Farm Bureau Federation, 25% of U.S. Fertilizer imports occur between March and April each year.
“This couldn’t be happening at a worse time,” Harry Ott, a cotton, corn, and soybean farmer in South Carolina, told the BBC.
Analysts anticipate that consumers will begin to sense the impact on food prices in one to three months in the form of both higher prices and shortages, as lower fertilizer levels will lead to smaller harvests.
This situation could translate into hunger for the poorest countries and people.
“The sudden increase in food and fuel prices, driven by the escalation of the conflict in the Middle East, could have a domino effect that will exacerbate hunger among vulnerable populations in the region and other parts of the world,” warned the UN Food Program in a statement.
2. Restrictions on Global Drug Distribution
Fuente de la imagen, Reuters
The ongoing war in the Middle East is also affecting the global supply chain of medicines and pharmaceutical products.
This is primarily due to the attacks suffered by Dubai, which is a major logistics hub in the global pharmaceutical sector.
The most populous city in the United Arab Emirates is home to the world’s busiest international airport, which totaled approximately 95 million passengers in 2025.
That airport is also a major hub for air cargo distribution of medicines and other pharmaceutical products, especially those requiring temperature-controlled conditions.
This airport is particularly important to the Indian pharmaceutical industry, which is the largest global supplier of generic medicines and produces 60% of the world’s vaccines, according to data from the country’s Department of Commerce.
Emirates airline has a cargo facility called Emirates SkyPharma, which was specifically built for the management of temperature-sensitive pharmaceutical shipments.
Dubai also has the Jebel Ali Port, considered the ninth busiest cargo port in the world and the main one in the Middle East.
According to the Jebel Ali Free Zone Authority (Jafza), around 400 companies linked to the pharmaceutical and health sector from 60 countries operate there. They highlight that in 2020, $21.8 billion worth of pharmaceutical and health products passed through it.
Indian pharmaceutical exports also transit through this port, from where the products are sent to other Gulf countries, Africa, Europe and other destinations.
Military attacks by Iran have damaged both the port and the airport in Dubai, which have seen their normal operations disrupted by the conflict.
Air cargo transport is very important for the pharmaceutical industry, especially for shipments of high value or that require urgent delivery or temperature-controlled conditions.
Although there are some alternative routes to Dubai, many of these have smaller capacities to handle these volumes of cargo, require additional days of travel and have higher costs, all of which could eventually drive up the price and availability of these products.
According to India’s Department of Commerce, the country’s pharmaceutical industry exported products to 200 countries around the world, with its main destinations being the U.S., the United Kingdom, Brazil, France and South Africa.
The facilities at Dubai Airport and Port serve as storage and re-export centers for these medicines, playing a central role in the global pharmaceutical business.
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