Economy

Show Only ...
Maps - Photos - Videos

Global Food Supply Faces a Dangerous Bottleneck as Iran War Persists – The New York Times

|

Global Food Supply Faces a Dangerous Bottleneck as Iran War Persists – The New York Times

One of the biggest economic casualties of the U.S.-led war in Iran has been the global fertilizer supply.

Shipments of it have piled up on the wrong side of the Strait of Hormuz. In India, Algeria and Slovakia, fertilizer plants have shut down or slowed their output because of rising natural gas prices. China has restricted fertilizer exports. Australian wheat farmers are planting less, and corn and soy farmers in the United States are begging President Trump for relief.

Energy-Price Shock Hits a World Already Buried in Debt – WSJ

|

Energy-Price Shock Hits a World Already Buried in Debt – WSJ

The costs of shielding the global economy from the most severe energy shock in decades are adding up—just when governments can least afford it.

Authorities around the world are trying to cushion the blow to ordinary people from soaring prices. The state of Georgia suspended its 33 cents-a-gallon gas tax, with other U.S. states considering doing the same. The U.K. government has promised to help pay some consumers’ heating-fuel bills. China, Hungary and Japan have limited prices at the gas pump.

The efforts contain inflation but strain already-groaning government budgets. The longer the crisis in the Persian Gulf lasts, the more that governments will feel compelled to do.

$5 Diesel is Crushing Truckers. It Will Soon Be Felt Across the Economy. – WSJ

|

$5 Diesel is Crushing Truckers. It Will Soon Be Felt Across the Economy. – WSJ

Long-haul trucker Miguel Caveda recently spent around $1,800 on diesel fuel during a week on the road, about 40% more than he typically paid before the Iran war began.?

The sudden surge in diesel prices has eroded Caveda’s profit and upended his business in other ways, too. He has started searching out lighter hauls and avoiding hilly routes that guzzle fuel. He is also keenly aware that the steeper fuel costs will eventually trickle into the prices consumers pay for goods he is carrying—from tires to watermelon—assuming his business survives.