The effective closure of the Strait of Hormuz caused by the Middle East war may lead to an increase in food costs and intensify cost-of-living pressures for the world’s most vulnerable people, the United Nations warned yesterday.

The strait is the only sea passage from the Gulf towards the Indian Ocean, through which nearly a quarter of the world’s seaborne oil supplies pass, as well as a significant amount of cargo. Iran has all but blocked the waterway following the launch of the February 28 US-Israeli airstrikes on the country that triggered the war.

“The current shock comes at a time when many developing economies struggle to service their debt, face a tightening of fiscal space and limited capacity to absorb new price shocks.

“Higher energy, fertiliser and transport costs — including freight rates, bunker fuel prices and insurance premiums — may increase food costs and intensify cost-of-living pressures, particularly for the most vulnerable,” the UN trade and development agency UNCTAD said in a report released yesterday.

UNCTAD also stated that, in terms of seaborne trade volume, in the week before the conflict 38 per cent of crude oil, 29 per cent of liquified petroleum gas, 19 per cent of liquified natural gas and 19 per cent refined oil products went through the strait.

But while an average of 129 ship transited daily through the passage between February 1 and 27, that number dropped to just three on March 3. UNCTAD said the disruptions underscored the vulnerability of critical maritime chokepoints and their potential for disruption to them to send shocks across supply chains and commodity markets.