The Strait of Hormuz crisis affects more than just oil. Here are 9 other commodities 

The shipping crisis in the Strait of Hormuz is now "the largest supply disruption in the history of the global oil market", according to the head of the International Energy Agency, Fatih Birol. While focus remains on the 11 million barrels of oil and 140 billion cubic metres of gas usually in daily global circulation, the impact extends far beyond energy.

As the conflict in Iran continues, the blockage also exposes a deeper vulnerability: the Middle East’s role as a primary supplier of non-oil commodities. From the fertilizers essential for global food security to the minerals powering the energy transition, the current shortages are reshaping supply chains in real time.

The Arabian Gulf is the central hub for global agriculture, accounting for at least 20% of all seaborne fertilizer exports. The dependency is even more acute for urea, the world’s most widely used nitrogen fertilizer, with 46% of global trade originating from the region. This supply is critical for major agricultural economies, including India (18%), Brazil (10%), and China (8%). Analysts warn that a prolonged disruption will significantly tighten availability in these import-dependent regions, potentially driving up global food production costs - as well as inflationary pressures.

Sulfur, a critical energy material, is a primary byproduct of the region's oil and gas refining process, which is currently at a standstill. Nearly half of all global seaborne sulfur trade passes through the Strait, making the region the global 'price setter' for the commodity. It's the feedstock for sulfuric acid, a chemical required for two global workflows:

Lack of availability is forcing industrial slowdowns in hubs like Indonesia and the copper belt of Africa. As prices surge, disruption threatens both sustainable transport and large-scale commercial farming.

Around a third of global seaborne methanol trade passes through the Strait of Hormuz, so disruption could tighten the supply of a key chemical feedstock for resins, coatings and plastics, with knock-on effects across chemical value chains. The situation is particularly significant for China, the world's largest methanol buyer, where port inventories could fall from comfortable levels towards "below warning thresholds" if exports from the Middle East remain curtailed, raising costs for producers of plastics, paints and synthetic fibres.

The synthetic graphite used in electric vehicle (EV) battery anodes relies on petroleum coke – a byproduct of oil refining – as its primary feedstock. The impact on synthetic graphite prices could be more severe than other battery materials, as oil refineries may opt to focus on higher-value outputs while prices rally – tightening availability of the petroleum coke byproduct on which synthetic graphite production depends. With shipping costs also rising, natural graphite prices face additional upward pressure – adding further strain to EV battery costs already squeezed by disruptions to nickel, cobalt and sulfur.

The Middle East is a major global supplier of primary aluminium outside China, producing around 9% of global primary aluminium. Supply from Gulf smelters has been constrained, and over 150,000 tonnes of metal that had been registered on the London Metal Exchange have been pulled from warehouses, reflecting the wider disruption to regional exports. Aluminium is widely used in construction, transport and renewable energy, and only a few smelters are fully integrated with their own raw materials, making the market sensitive to Gulf supply pressures.

Qatar accounts for nearly one-third of the world’s helium supply, produced as a byproduct of its natural gas processing. As supply tightens, the effects are already rippling through global technology supply chains. Helium plays a critical role in semiconductor manufacturing, supporting processes from ultra-low-temperature cooling to highly precise fabrication. The greater concern, however, lies in healthcare. MRI scanners rely on liquid helium to keep their superconducting magnets at extremely low temperatures; without a stable supply of helium, MRI machines can't operate.

Monoethylene glycol (MEG) – a key input for polyester fibres, packaging and textiles – is one of the Gulf’s most significant chemical exports, with around 6.5 million tonnes shipped in 2025 alone. China, the largest consumer, could face acute shortages while other major importers including India, Indonesia, Pakistan, Vietnam and Thailand are also likely to feel the strain. In response, Asian buyers are turning to alternative suppliers in the United States, a shift that could push prices higher in a market that had recently been weighed down by oversupply and steep discounts.

The Gulf is a significant supplier of high-grade iron ore pellets and direct-reduced iron – premium feedstocks for global steelmaking. Shipowners began avoiding the strait almost immediately after the conflict escalated, making it more difficult to secure vessels and prompting buyers across Asia, India and the Middle East to pause new procurement. With freight uncertainty still unresolved, longer transit times and rising shipping costs are beginning to feed through to an industry already operating on tight margins.

While the crisis may ultimately accelerate the shift towards clean energy, it has underscored risks to hydrogen project timelines and export infrastructure. The Middle East has been positioned to become a major green hydrogen hub, with significant electrolyser capacity and export plans in the pipeline. However, ongoing instability and uncertainty around shipping routes and investment could slow the pace of development and the scale-up of production capacity.

As the World Economic Forum’s Global Risks Report 2026 notes, geoeconomic confrontation is now a key driver of economic and industrial policy. While the immediate impact on commodities is severe, the broader signal is a shift towards resilience and diversification across global supply chains.

For governments and industries alike, securing access to critical inputs - from energy to metals and chemicals - is increasingly being treated as a matter of economic and national security.