Sweet-toothed Brits could see their favourite treats vanish from the supermarket shelves after the busy waterway was shut off by Iran during the escalating conflict in the Middle East
Chocolate-loving Brits face being kicked in the teeth as the Iran war threatens supplies of our most beloved sweet treats.. Confectioners fear a shortage in ingredients as key trade routes are closed by the fighting in the Middle East.
Ingredients like sugar, cocoa and glucose syrups – as well as packaging materials – all face disruption after the Strait of Hormuz was shut off by Iran. The move disrupted the global economy and caused a sharp rise in the price of energy needed to make chocolate.
And it is now feared the blockage of the strait could spark shortages after major carriers were forced into suspending travel through the busy shipping lane.
Lisa Anderson, president of supply chain specialists LMA Consulting group, told the Confectionary News website: “These companies rely on natural gas as a process fuel in food manufacturing, oil is key in packaging materials and ingredient inputs like sugar are tied to energy markets.”
Around 20% of global oil and gas passes through the narrow shipping lane in the Gulf, but Iran’s General Sardar Jabbari said that Tehran will now “not let a single drop of oil leave the region” and threatened to attack any ship passing through the strait.
Ms Anderson said the fact that energy has stopped flowing is “critical” and warned delays are likely. She said the US had ramped up domestic production in recent years, making American firms more resilient.
But she warned many Asian manufacturers were still reliant on imported ingredients, which are the ones facing delays, rerouting and rising shipping costs. She urged manufacturers to “diversify sources of supply” but warned that may not even be enough.
She added: “Depending on their supply chain network and capabilities, they could reallocate production, add suppliers, friend-shore within regional supply chains, expand domestic manufacturing or re-shore to mitigate risks and increase control.”
Chocolatiers have already said they are having to reduce the quantity of chocolate in their products and raise prices after a global hike in the price of cocoa and butter last year and crop failures in Africa reducing the supplies of chocolate.
We previously told how oil prices have risen to their highest level in more than two years after a huge blast took out a petrol refinery in Qatar. The county’s energy minister warned he expects all oil and gas exporters in the Gulf to stop production within days.
About 3,000 or so ships sail through the strait each month. Analysts have warned that the longer there are threats to ships passing through the strait, the higher the price of oil – and the shipping of it – will be.
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