The President of the Spanish Government, Pedro Sánchez, has announced the launch of a state fertilizer plan to mitigate Spain's dependence on the Middle East, a region that concentrates – through the Strait of Hormuz – one-third of the world's fertilizer trade. At an event held this Monday in San Martín de la Vega (Madrid), the head of the executive indicated that he expects the initiative to be completed during the first quarter of 2027, with three lines of action that he considers "priorities": the commitment to precision agriculture, strategic autonomy, and price transparency.

The blockade of the Strait of Hormuz due to the war in the Persian Gulf is causing an increase in fertilizer prices, thus putting the agri-food sector's value chain at risk and threatening to further elevate inflation. For this reason, Brussels presented a plan this Tuesday to alleviate the fertilizer supply crisis, although the main measures are limited to diverting existing European funds and advancing subsidies already allocated to member states through the common agricultural policy (CAP).

The cost of producing food is expected to rise in the coming months due to the war in the Middle East. The reason is the dependence of world agriculture on fertilizers, some of the main producers of which are the Persian Gulf countries. The export of these chemical products has been as affected as oil by the conflict, which has led to price increases that will likely be passed on to the final price of food.