Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said high fertiliser prices and disruption around the Strait of Hormuz are challenging global food security by making a critical farm input harder to afford and ship. India is cushioning farmers from international prices and has created a shipping emergency fund to support fertiliser shipments, she said. The risk is broader than India: IFPRI researchers estimate that up to 30% of global fertiliser trade passed through Hormuz in 2024, though that figure does not mean all those shipments are currently blocked.
What Sitharaman said about fertiliser prices and Hormuz
Speaking at the Munich Leaders Meeting in New Delhi on October 5, 2026, Sitharaman described fertiliser prices as unaffordable for countries and linked the cost pressure to global food security. “Fertilisers have gone through enough, it is just not possible for any country to sustain buying it at that level,” she said, according to Moneycontrol’s October 5 report.
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She also pointed to difficulties in moving fertiliser: shipping lines and containers were unavailable, while insurance risk premiums were extremely high amid the Hormuz disruption. That is an affordability problem and a logistics problem at once. Even when fertiliser can be bought, shipping constraints and insurance costs can make delivery more difficult or expensive.
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Moneycontrol reported Sitharaman’s statement that India imports around 80% of its fertiliser requirements. That figure is attributed to the minister’s remarks in the report; it is not an independently verified estimate in the sources cited here.
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To illustrate how India shields farmers from international prices, Sitharaman compared a farmer charge of ₹300 per unit with an import cost of ₹3,000 for the same unit of urea or diammonium phosphate (DAP). “There is no way I can go charging them at the international rate,” she said. She added: “We charge farmers 300 rupees a unit and that very unit is 3000 rupees when we import, so nearly 2700 rupees is given for each one of these units of urea or DAP.” This is her example, not a complete account of subsidy rules or a universal administered price for every fertiliser product or situation.
Sitharaman said India is working to expand domestic urea and phosphate capacity, while cautioning that such expansion would take a long time. The statements point to two different time horizons: cushioning farmers from imported-cost pressure now, and building more domestic capacity over time.
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What India says it is doing for fertiliser shipments
Sitharaman said the government had created a separate shipping emergency fund to support shipping lines bringing fertilisers, particularly as they face high insurance premiums. “We have created a separate shipping emergency fund to support any shipping lines that brings fertilisers especially as they face issues due to high insurance premiums,” she said.
Moneycontrol’s report does not give the fund’s size, eligibility rules, application process, beneficiaries, premium figures or shipment data. The reported measure is intended to support shipping lines; the available account does not establish how much assistance has been delivered or how the fund is operating.
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Why a shipping disruption can affect food security
Fertilisers supply nutrients crops need to grow. The IFPRI analysis published by CGIAR focuses on nitrogen and phosphate, while noting that potash is the third primary nutrient. The Persian Gulf region is a major production hub for nitrogen and phosphate, and natural gas—also moved through Hormuz—is a key feedstock for fertiliser production.
IFPRI researchers report that, in 2024, up to 30% of global fertiliser trade passed through the Strait of Hormuz. They also estimate that 20% of globally traded liquefied natural gas (LNG) and 27% of globally traded oil passed through the strait that year. These are measures of trade exposure in 2024, not evidence that those shares are currently halted. The figures appear in the researchers’ analysis published by CGIAR on April 1, 2026.
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The concern is a conditional chain rather than a confirmed forecast of crop losses: if supply disruption lasts, constrained shipping and higher energy and fertiliser prices can make fertiliser harder to obtain or afford. Farmers may then use less, which can reduce yields. IFPRI identifies countries that rely heavily on Persian Gulf fertiliser and natural gas—particularly in Africa and South Asia—as especially vulnerable.
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Sitharaman expressed hope that the Malacca Strait would not also be disrupted. Moneycontrol describes it as about 900 kilometres long, linking the Indian Ocean with the South China Sea and Pacific Ocean, and reports that some energy trade was being rerouted through it. But that does not establish Malacca as a workable substitute for all fertiliser cargoes affected by Hormuz disruption. The report does not specify which fertiliser shipments could use the route, or the capacity and practical constraints involved.
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What the reported figures do—and do not—show
- India’s import exposure: The around-80% figure is reported by Moneycontrol from Sitharaman’s remarks; the cited sources do not establish India’s share of fertiliser imports specifically routed through Hormuz.
- The farmer-price example: The ₹300 charge, ₹3,000 import cost and nearly ₹2,700 difference refer to Sitharaman’s example for a unit of urea or DAP, not a full description of India’s subsidy system.
- Hormuz trade exposure: IFPRI’s “up to 30%” figure describes global fertiliser trade passing through the strait in 2024. It is not a current blockage estimate.
- Shipping support: The emergency fund’s operational details and the scale of support are not specified in Moneycontrol’s report.
- Timing: Neither cited source establishes a reliable end date for the disruption or a current price series for fertiliser, insurance or freight.
Sitharaman also discussed India’s green transition and the European Union’s carbon border adjustment mechanism (CBAM), saying she personally opposed CBAM while welcoming the formula agreed through the India-EU trade agreement. Those remarks are her reported views, not a full account of the agreement or CBAM’s legal terms.
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