Middle East and North Africa

The closure of the Strait of Hormuz has laid bare the world’s economic dependence on the narrow waterway leading out of the Persian Gulf. Nearly three months into the Iran war, it is well known that around one-fifth of the world’s liquefied natural gas (LNG) and petroleum products normally passes through the strait.

Rising energy prices might be just the first harbinger of a truly global crisis, though. Despite a U.S.-Iran cease-fire, the ongoing Hormuz blockade is straining supplies of the other critical yet overlooked ingredients of the world economy that are downstream from fossil fuels, including sulfur, helium, nitrogen, aluminum, and plastics.

The closure of the Strait of Hormuz has laid bare the world’s economic dependence on the narrow waterway leading out of the Persian Gulf. Nearly three months into the Iran war, it is well known that around one-fifth of the world’s liquefied natural gas (LNG) and petroleum products normally passes through the strait.

Rising energy prices might be just the first harbinger of a truly global crisis, though. Despite a U.S.-Iran cease-fire, the ongoing Hormuz blockade is straining supplies of the other critical yet overlooked ingredients of the world economy that are downstream from fossil fuels, including sulfur, helium, nitrogen, aluminum, and plastics.

Trace those shortages further down supply chains, and it becomes clear that few commodities are insulated from the Iran war. From diet soda to the semiconductor industry and beyond, the impact of the conflict will likely be felt around the world long after the strait reopens.

The story starts with fossil fuels, the lifeblood of the world economy. In addition to relatively direct uses of LNG, petroleum, and other distillates in transportation and power generation, the fossil fuel industry in the Gulf states produces a glut of by-products.

During the oil and natural gas refining process, sulfur contaminants are separated and converted into sulfuric acid, known as the “king of chemicals.” On May 1, China, the world’s leading sulfur importer and sulfuric acid exporter, paused most sulfuric acid exports to preserve its domestic supply.

Meena Chauhan, the head of sulfur and sulfuric acid research at Argus Media, told Foreign Policy’s Christina Lu that the top destinations for the chemical include Chile, which relies on sulfuric acid in its copper sector; Indonesia, which has a booming nickel industry; and Morocco and Saudi Arabia, which use sulfuric acid for processed phosphates.

The Middle East is also the source of more than 90 percent of the sulfur imported into Africa.

Sulfuric acid is a key ingredient for processing critical minerals such as nickel, copper, and cobalt. Indonesia, the world’s largest nickel producer, sources around 75 percent of its sulfur from the Middle East. In April, several Indonesian nickel processors began limiting their output. Sulfuric acid is also essential for copper miners, who use solvent-extraction technology on oxide ores.

China’s sulfuric acid export ban will particularly affect the Democratic Republic of the Congo, the world’s second-largest copper producer; and Chile, which uses the chemical to produce 1.1 million tons of refined copper per year through a process known........

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