President Donald Trump’s war against Iran – along with the resulting blockade imposed by both Tehran and Washington – has sparked fear among experts that the supply of the world’s “most-consumed chemical” may soon reach a “critical” shortage, The Wall Street Journal reported Saturday.
That chemical is sulfuric acid, which is relied upon in the production of “food, metal, paper, computer chips, clean water” and more – with a “large chunk” of the world’s supply of sulfuric acid coming directly from the Persian Gulf, the Journal reported.
“There’s only weeks, maybe if you’re lucky a month, planned for in their pipeline and storage,” said Kunal Sinha, who formerly managed a sulfuric-acid business for the mining firm Glencore, speaking with the Journal. “Supply-chain disruption, whether it’s a rail strike or the Strait of Hormuz being closed, is a problem.”
The partial closure of the Strait of Hormuz – a critical shipping waterway off the coast of Iran – has caused major disruptions in the flow of oil, with 20% of the world’s oil supply historically traveling through the strait. Beyond oil, the disruption of traffic through the strait has also sparked a shortage of helium, a resource that plays a critical role in applications ranging from semiconductor manufacturing to medical equipment.
Now, onlookers are growing increasingly concerned about the war’s impact on the supply of sulfuric acid, which Freda Gordon, director at Acuity Commodities, told the Journal could pose a significant threat to “food security” given the chemical’s role in producing certain types of fertilizer.
Craig Jorgenson, CEO of the industry group Sulphur Institute, warned that the disruption to trade through the Strait of Hormuz would soon lead to supply shortages reaching a “critical point.”
“It’s getting to that critical point where inventories are being drawn down and production of critical minerals and agricultural products like phosphate, are slowing down,” Jorgenson told the Journal.