LISBON, April 13 (Xinhua) -- Jose Mesquita has spent most of his life farming the hills around Fundao, a small town in central Portugal about 280 km northeast of Lisbon. This spring, however, a conflict far beyond the country's borders is disrupting his plans.
"March and April are extremely important months for agriculture," Mesquita has told Xinhua recently, standing amid fields that should by now be preparing for the maize season. "But precisely now, fertilizer markets are under enormous pressure. Prices have jumped 20 to 30 percent. And the products are simply not there."
Since the eruption of the Iran war following joint U.S.-Israeli strikes against Iran on Feb. 28, the Strait of Hormuz, the waterway that handles about 20 percent of global oil shipments, has been effectively closed.
The Strait had also handled roughly one-third of the world's fertilizer trade, including urea, ammonia, sulfur, and phosphate, according to the United Nations.
The disruption has sent the price of granular urea, a widely used nitrogen-based fertilizer, up 54 percent, from 446 U.S. dollars to 687 U.S. dollars per metric ton in global markets.
"Portugal's economy is highly open to the world, because it is an energy importer, and it is already feeling the effects of the war in the Middle East," Daniel Rocha, a Portuguese analyst of financial markets and geopolitics, told Xinhua.
"The longer the Strait of Hormuz remains closed, the more prices will rise. The countries of that region supply products that serve as the base and raw material for fertilizers. We will see that impact in food, in the prices of the most basic products for Portuguese families," he added.
Although Portugal does not import fertilizers directly from the Gulf, as its main suppliers of nitrogen-based products are Algeria, Egypt, and Russia, yet in a global market, supply shocks spread quickly with wide-reaching effects.
"When the main source dries up, the world drinks from the rest," Joao Coimbra, a maize producer in the Tagus Valley region about 100 km north of Lisbon, told Xinhua. "That causes a disruption in supply and an immediate price increase everywhere."
The pressure is acute as farmers enter the peak spring planting period, when fertilizer use is essential and largely unavoidable.
"We have to purchase fertilizers now because we are in the planting phase," Jorge Durao Neves, president of the National Association of Maize and Sorghum Producers, told Xinhua.
"Production costs are being determined at this stage, while the final price of the crops will only be set from September onwards," he also said, adding that farmers could still face losses even if the conflict eases soon.
The impact could extend beyond farms. Maize is a key ingredient in animal feed, so higher costs could eventually drive up meat and dairy prices.
Sector associations have jointly appealed to the government for direct support, warning of a risk to food security and increased dependence on imports.
For Mesquita, the fields are ready and the seeds are in place. What's missing are the fertilizers, which are now costly, scarce, and tied to a conflict beyond his control.
However, despite a ceasefire between the United States and Iran, the Strait of Hormuz crisis remains unresolved. On Sunday, U.S. President Donald Trump said the U.S. Navy would begin blockading ships entering or leaving the strategic waterway after talks with Iran collapsed without a deal.
