The Strait of Hormuz is a narrow sea passage, separating the Arabian Peninsula and Iran, and connecting the Persian Gulf with the Gulf of Oman and the Arabian Sea. At its narrowest point, the Strait is only 29 nautical miles wide (54 km), and it consists of 2-mile-wide navigable channels (3.7 km) for inbound and outbound shipping as well as a 2-mile-wide buffer zone.

In 2025, about 30,000 ships transited the Strait of Hormuz. That’s about 130 ships passing daily. Since the war started and a blockade was imposed, there were days when no ships passed, and on some days, only three to four ships passed the Strait. Currently, analysts estimate that about 1,500 ships are trapped inside the Persian Gulf.

The countries of Iran, Iraq, Kuwait, Qatar, and Bahrain rely on the Strait to deliver the vast majority of their oil exports. With an average of 20 million barrels per day (mb/d) of crude oil and oil products shipped in 2025, the Strait is considered one of the world's most critical oil transit chokepoints. Because the options to bypass it are limited, 25 percent of the world’s seaborne oil trade transits the Strait. The current war started by the US has created unprecedented disruption in global oil markets. According to news reports, 80 percent of the oil that transits the Strait is bound for Asia. That’s why several Asian countries have taken measures to address oil shortages. While many countries rely on the Strait, Iran is now actively using a new 10,400-km freight rail corridor to export petrochemicals and oil-based products to China, bypassing the Strait of Hormuz. The route, operationalized in June 2025, connects Xi'an, China, to Tehran, Iran, traversing Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, and Turkmenistan in 15 days—less than half the time of sea routes, cushioning the impact of the blockade on China.

For other countries without railway shipping, the Strait of Hormuz is a critical global maritime chokepoint not only for oil. Other major exports that pass through the Strait include crude oil, liquefied natural gas (LNG), refined petroleum products, petrochemicals, fertilizers, and plastics. In fact, over 90 percent of LNG exports from Qatar and the UAE that pass through the Strait represent almost 20 percent of global LNG exports.

In March, the Philippine News Agency published an article outlining the dangers of a blockade and its impact on the agriculture sector. Based on data, about 45 to 50 percent of the world's traded urea—the most common nitrogen fertilizer—passes through this strait. Aside from urea, diammonium phosphate and ammonium dihydrogen phosphate have also been impacted. The big countries that have felt the effect of the blockade and would have a significant impact on the agricultural season are India, Brazil, Thailand, and Bangladesh. Because of supply shortages, the prices of urea and ammonia have sharply risen, with some estimates suggesting urea prices jumped by 50 percent. Veronica Nigh, chief economist at the US-based The Fertilizer Institute, said that if the war continues, the impact would surpass that of the 2022 food crisis, when the Russia-Ukraine war began.

In numbers, the almost non-existent shipping traffic in the Strait of Hormuz disrupted about 38 percent of the global nitrate-based fertilizer supply and about 20 percent of the phosphate-based fertilizer supply. The net effect is a 33 percent contraction in the global fertilizer supply chain. That is now being felt by farmers across the globe as they prepare for the farming season.

American farmers are entering the spring planting season amid heavy financial burdens, as the American Farm Bureau Federation warned that corn and grain production is facing a catastrophic situation with diesel prices exceeding $5 per gallon.

While over in India, the country lost around 800,000 tons in its monthly urea production of 2.6 million due to limiting industrial gas supply to the 70 to 75 percent range, while ammonia import disruptions brought local production to a standstill, as the country sources 80 percent of its ammonia needs from the Gulf region.

In the Philippines, Department of Agriculture Secretary Francisco Tiu Laurel has taken steps to address this crisis. The Secretary said the country’s exposure to supply disruptions is limited but noted that higher oil and freight costs are expected to drive up fertilizer prices amid tensions affecting key trade routes, such as the Strait of Hormuz. The Agriculture Department is now prioritizing alternatives to reduce reliance on imported and inorganic fertilizers and advance the broader goal of sustainable, food-secure agriculture by boosting farm yields.

The next time you’re dining with friends and discussing the Middle East, remember the effects go beyond just pump prices; many aspects of daily life are impacted more than most realize.

(The author is a former Comelec commissioner. He was the chairman of the Comelec Steering Committee that oversaw the successful modernization of the first national automated Philippines elections in 2010. He remains involved in public service as an election lawyer and is a Senior Partner at Divina Law Office.)