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High fertiliser prices and disruption around the Strait of Hormuz threaten food security through two linked pressures: countries may struggle to afford fertiliser, and shipping constraints can make supplies harder to move. At the Munich Leaders Meeting in New Delhi on October 5, 2026, India’s Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said India is cushioning farmers from international prices and has created a shipping emergency fund to support fertiliser shipments. These measures address immediate cost and logistics pressures; they do not remove the wider risks to supply.
What Sitharaman said about fertiliser prices and Hormuz
Sitharaman linked fertiliser affordability and transport disruption 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, 2026 report.
Her argument was that a high international price is not just a market problem: if governments or farmers cannot afford the input, fertiliser use may fall. At the same time, disruption around Hormuz can complicate physical movement, shipping availability and insurance. Price and availability are related, but distinct: a subsidy can cushion a buyer from cost increases, while it cannot by itself put a vessel or cargo on an unavailable route.
Sitharaman also said fertiliser trade over the past 50–60 years had helped countries reduce their dependence on food imports. “Food security globally depends on free movement of fertiliser,” she said.
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How India says it is cushioning farmers
Moneycontrol reported Sitharaman’s statement that India imports around 80 percent of its fertiliser requirements. That figure is attributed to her remarks in the report, rather than presented there as a separate official data release.
To illustrate how farmers are shielded from international prices, Sitharaman described a farmer charge of ₹300 per unit against an import cost of ₹3,000 for a unit of urea or 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.”
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This is her example, not a complete description of India’s subsidy formula or a universal price for every fertiliser, farmer or purchase. The report does not provide current budget spending or a product-by-product account of administered prices.
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In an analysis published by CGIAR on April 1, 2026, researchers from the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) said up to 30% of global fertiliser trade passed through the Strait of Hormuz in 2024. The same analysis estimated that 20% of liquefied natural gas (LNG) and 27% of globally traded oil passed through the strait in that year. These are 2024 trade-exposure estimates, not a measure of how much trade is blocked now.
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The route matters alongside production. The Persian Gulf region is a major production hub for nitrogen and phosphate fertilisers, and natural gas is an important feedstock for fertiliser production. IFPRI’s analysis focuses on nitrogen and phosphate; potash is the third primary plant nutrient.
The researchers describe a conditional risk pathway: if disruption persists, supply constraints can drive prices higher; higher prices can lead to reduced fertiliser use; and less use can lower yields. They identify countries strongly dependent on Persian Gulf fertiliser and natural gas—particularly in Africa and South Asia—as especially vulnerable. This is a warning about potential effects, not a confirmed forecast of crop losses. Read the IFPRI analysis hosted by CGIAR for its broader supply-chain assessment.
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What India says it is doing about shipments
Sitharaman said shipping lines and containers were unavailable and insurance risk premiums were extremely high amid the Hormuz disruption. She said India had created a separate shipping emergency fund to support vessels bringing fertilisers: “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.
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Moneycontrol’s report does not state the fund’s amount, eligibility rules, application process, beneficiaries, insurance-premium figures or shipment volumes. It therefore establishes the minister’s description of the measure, but not how much support has been deployed or its operational results.
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Sitharaman also said India is working to expand domestic urea and phosphate capacity, while warning that building this capacity would take a long time. In the short term, the measures she described aim to cushion farmers from import prices and help shipping lines; domestic capacity is a longer-term effort to reduce exposure to external supply and transport constraints.
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.Is the Malacca Strait an alternative to Hormuz?
Not as a proven, interchangeable route for all fertiliser cargoes. Sitharaman expressed hope that the Malacca Strait would not also become disrupted. Moneycontrol describes it as about 900 km long, linking the Indian Ocean with the South China Sea and Pacific Ocean, and reports that some energy trade was being rerouted through it.
That does not establish that Malacca can substitute for Hormuz-bound fertiliser shipments. The report offers no cargo-level route data or evidence that the straits serve the same origins and destinations. A route used for some rerouted energy trade should not be taken as proof that fertiliser trade can be redirected at equivalent scale or without added constraints.
What the available reporting does—and does not—establish
- Established in Moneycontrol’s account: Sitharaman’s statements on India’s reported import dependence, her urea and DAP price example, the shipping emergency fund, and efforts to expand domestic capacity.
- Established in IFPRI’s 2024 estimate: up to 30% of global fertiliser trade passed through Hormuz that year, with additional exposure for LNG and oil trade.
- Not specified in these sources: India’s share of fertiliser imports that depends on Hormuz, current fertiliser price series, exact insurance premiums, the fund’s current operating status, or when disruption might end.
The distinction matters: the minister’s comments describe India’s response and concern, while IFPRI’s analysis explains how persistent supply and price shocks could affect fertiliser use and food production more broadly.
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