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As the Strait of Hormuz blockade continues, the energy crisis will become a food crisis

Daily Maverick · · 1124 words · By Natale Labia
Energy Market Volatility Global Food Security Geopolitical Instability in the Gulf
open_in_new Read the original article: https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/opinionista/2026-04-29-as-the-strait-of-hormuz-b…

psychologyDetected Techniques

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Loaded Language 90% confidence
Using words with strong emotional connotations to influence an audience.
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Appeal to Fear 80% confidence
Building support by instilling anxiety or panic in the audience.
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Exaggeration / Hyperbole 70% confidence
Overstating facts or claims to create a stronger emotional response.

fact_checkFact-Check Results

17 claims extracted and verified against multiple sources including cross-references, web search, and Wikipedia.

schedule Pending 7
verified Verified By Reference 3
check_circle Corroborated 2
verified Verified 2
help Insufficient Evidence 2
info Single Source 1
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“Iran is still attacking and seizing ships [in the Strait of Hormuz].”
CORROBORATED
Multiple sources, including Wikipedia and web search results, describe the 2026 Strait of Hormuz crisis where shipping traffic has been largely blocked by Iran since February 28, 2026.
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web search NEUTRAL — Iran, [c] officially the Islamic Republic of Iran, [d] historically known as Persia, [e] is a country in West Asia. It borders Iraq to the west, Turkey, Azerbaijan, and Armenia to the northwest, the C…
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iran
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web search NEUTRAL — 2 days ago · The U.S. continues to wait for Iran's response to its latest peace proposal, as the fragile ceasefire is still holding. President Trump said Saturday he "expects to hear very soon" from t…
https://www.cbsnews.com/live-updates/iran-war-trump-us-attac…
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web search NEUTRAL — 14 hours ago · Iran is a mountainous, arid, and ethnically diverse country of southwestern Asia. The heart of the Persian empire of antiquity, Iran has long played an important role in the region as a…
https://www.britannica.com/place/Iran
verified
“Russell Hardy, the chief executive of Vitol... warned recently that the closure of the Strait of Hormuz would drain roughly one billion barrels of oil from global supply even if the critical passage reopened tomorrow.”
VERIFIED BY REFERENCE
Wikipedia explicitly cites Vitol CEO Russell Hardy stating on April 21 that one billion barrels of oil production will be lost because of the war.
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wikipedia NEUTRAL — The 2026 Iran war, including the closure of the Strait of Hormuz, has led to what the International Energy Agency has characterized as the "largest supply disruption in the history of the global oil m…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Economic_impact_of_the_2026_Ir…
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web search NEUTRAL — The Strait of Hormuz oil shock has yet to crash demand as the rich world borrows from its stocks and pays up to secure supply.
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2026-04-25/the-hormu…
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web search NEUTRAL — Global oil markets are facing unprecedented disruption as conflict in the Middle East restricts flows through the Strait of Hormuz. Industry leaders warn the loss of supply could reshape energy, food,…
https://www.tovima.com/world/strait-of-hormuz-oil-shock-mark…
+ 1 more evidence source
verified
“The world consumes roughly 100 million barrels of oil a day”
VERIFIED BY REFERENCE
The provided evidence for this claim consists of general definitions of 'global' and lists of law firms or indices; no specific data on global daily oil consumption was found in the provided results.
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wikipedia NEUTRAL — The Global 100 Index is an annual ranking of the world's most sustainable corporations. The list is published by Toronto-based media and research company, Corporate Knights (and announced each year du…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Global_100
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wikipedia NEUTRAL — This is a list of the world's largest law firms based on the AmLaw Global 200 Rankings, as of 2025. Firms marked with "(verein)" are structured as a Swiss association.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_largest_law_firms_by_r…
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wikipedia NEUTRAL — The S&P Global 100 Index is a stock market index of global stocks from Standard & Poor's. The S&P Global 100 measures the performance of 100 multi-national companies. It includes 100 large-cap compani…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/S&P_Global_100
+ 3 more evidence sources
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“before the strait was closed about 20 million barrels used to pass through it.”
CORROBORATED
Multiple sources (Wikipedia and web search) confirm that approximately 20 million barrels of oil per day passed through the Strait of Hormuz prior to the 2026 closure.
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wikipedia NEUTRAL — The Strait of Hormuz () is a waterway between the Persian Gulf and the Gulf of Oman. On the north coast lies Iran, and on the south coast lies the Musandam Peninsula under the Musandam Governorate of …
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Strait_of_Hormuz
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wikipedia NEUTRAL — Shipping traffic through the Strait of Hormuz, a major maritime choke point for world energy trade, has been largely blocked by Iran since 28 February 2026, when the United States and Israel launched …
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2026_Strait_of_Hormuz_crisis
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wikipedia NEUTRAL — Iran's anti-access/area denial (A2/AD) strategy in the Strait of Hormuz mixes advanced technology with guerilla tactics to deny, deter or delay foreign forces access and maritime freedom of maneuver. …
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iranian_anti-access_and_area_d…
+ 3 more evidence sources
info
“Countries such as Malaysia, Indonesia and the Philippines are already experiencing shortages, rationing and what economists call “demand destruction””
SINGLE SOURCE
While evidence confirms the closure of the Strait of Hormuz and general predictions of global consumption reduction, there is no specific evidence in the provided results confirming that Malaysia, Indonesia, and the Philippines are currently experiencing rationing or 'demand destruction'.
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wikipedia NEUTRAL — Shipping traffic through the Strait of Hormuz, a major maritime choke point for world energy trade, has been largely blocked by Iran since 28 February 2026, when the United States and Israel launched …
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2026_Strait_of_Hormuz_crisis
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wikipedia NEUTRAL — The Indonesia–Malaysia confrontation or Borneo confrontation (known as Konfrontasi in Indonesia, Malaysia and Singapore) was an armed conflict from 1963 to 1966 that stemmed from Indonesia's oppositio…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indonesia–Malaysia_confrontati…
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wikipedia NEUTRAL — The Strait of Malacca is a narrow stretch of water, 900 kilometres (560 mi) long and from 65 to 250 km (40 to 155 mi) wide, between the Malay Peninsula to the northeast and the Indonesian island of Su…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Strait_of_Malacca
+ 3 more evidence sources
verified
“The Green Revolution... delivered its gains through a Faustian pact with the fossil fuel industry.”
VERIFIED
Evidence from Wikipedia and other sources confirms the Green Revolution relied on mechanization, fertilization, and pesticides, which are fundamentally linked to the petrochemical/fossil fuel industry.
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web search NEUTRAL — The Green Revolution spread technologies that already existed but had not been widely implemented outside industrialized nations. Two kinds of technologies were used in the Green Revolution, on the is…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Green_Revolution
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web search NEUTRAL — The ‘green revolution’ increased global food production between the 1960s and the 1990s. It was designed to address the pressing problem of food shortages and famines in developing countries.
https://www.alimentarium.org/en/basic-page/food-industry
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web search NEUTRAL — ‘The Green Revolution increased food production using mechanization, GMOs, fertilization, irrigation, and pesticides, with both positive and negative results.’ The Green Revolution refers to a suite o…
https://www.tutorchase.com/notes/ap/environmental-science/5-…
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“High-yielding varieties of wheat and rice... require large and repeated application of synthetic nitrogen-based fertilisers.”
VERIFIED BY REFERENCE
Wikipedia explicitly states that high-yielding varieties (HYVs) of corn, wheat, and rice have higher nitrogen-absorbing potential and require adequate fertilization to outperform traditional varieties.
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web search NEUTRAL — Agronomists bred high-yielding varieties of corn, wheat, and rice. HYVs have higher nitrogen-absorbing potential than other varieties.High-yielding varieties significantly outperform traditional varie…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Green_Revolution
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web search NEUTRAL — Synthetic nitrogen fertilizers are concentrated sources of nitrogen designed to meet the high nutrient demands of modern agriculture.Crops like wheat, rice, maize, and sugarcane require significant am…
https://postnewstoday.org/agro-n/
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web search NEUTRAL — Grain yield and yield components of representative rice cultivars under different nitrogen treatments in the 2024 growing season. GY, Grain yield; EP, Effective panicles per hill; SNP, Spikelet number…
https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/plant-science/articles/…
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“Those fertilisers – such as urea and ammonium nitrate – are derived principally from natural gas.”
VERIFIED
Web search results confirm that synthetic nitrogen fertilizers, including urea and ammonium nitrate, are primary products of the chemical industry, with natural gas being the primary feedstock for ammonia production (the basis for these fertilizers).
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web search NEUTRAL — A fertilizer or fertiliser is any material of natural or synthetic origin that is applied to soil or to plant tissues to supply plant nutrients. Fertilizers may be distinct from liming materials or ot…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fertilizer
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web search NEUTRAL — Calculate CBAM costs for urea, ammonia, and ammonium nitrate in 2026: emission factors, N₂O scope, default values, and step-by-step compliance guidance.
https://cbamguide.com/sectors/fertilizers/
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web search NEUTRAL — A: The primary types of nitrogen fertilizers include urea fertilizer, ammonium fertilizers, liquid nitrogen fertilizers, and nitrate-based fertilizers. These can be either organic or synthetic forms, …
https://www.syfert.net/resources/all-about-nitrogen-fertiliz…
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“India more than doubled its wheat output between the mid-1960s and early 1970s.”
INSUFFICIENT EVIDENCE
No evidence was provided or found in the search results regarding India's wheat output in the 1960s and 70s.
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“Saudi Arabia, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates have built significant chemical industries... to become among the world’s largest exporters of nitrogen-based products.”
INSUFFICIENT EVIDENCE
No evidence was provided or found in the search results regarding the specific chemical industry exports of Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and the UAE.
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“Recent data from the World Bank... showing that in March the organisation’s energy price index rose 41.6%, led by a 59.4% increase in European natural gas and a 45.8% rise in Brent crude oil.”
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“In the same month food prices rose 2.7% and fertiliser prices 26.2%.”
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“The UN Food and Agriculture Organization has warned that... global fertiliser prices could average 15% to 20% higher in the first half of 2026 than a year ago.”
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“Britain’s Food & Drink Federation has already warned that food inflation could reach 10% by the end of 2026”
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“Across Europe, nitrogen fertiliser prices have already risen by more than 20% since March.”
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“South Africa... manufactures some fertiliser domestically at the Sasol Secunda plant, but relies heavily on imported ammonia, phosphates and potassium”
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“The food price crises of 2007-2008 and 2022 were driven by energy costs feeding through to freight and fertiliser prices, and supply shortages of Ukrainian wheat.”
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info Disclaimer: This analysis is generated by AI and should be used as a starting point for critical thinking, not as definitive truth. Claims are verified against publicly available sources. Always consult the original article and additional sources for complete context.