California farmers were already struggling. Then came the Iran war
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Shortly after the Iran war started four weeks ago, farming executive Bikram Hundal was beside himself.The vice president of operations at Sequoia Nut Co.had shipped 15 containers of almonds, walnuts and pistachios from the Port of Long Beach, and he wasn’t exactly sure where they were on the high seas.Their destination was Dubai’s Port of Jebel Ali, a major trading hub, but the jets, missiles and rockets crisscrossing Middle Eastern skies had diverted one ship to the Netherlands and another to Algeria.Finally, the remainder of the 300 tons of California nuts worth $1.7 million was offloaded at the Port of Fujairah, also in the United Arab Emirates but on the Gulf of Oman, a bit farther from the fighting.
Business The sharp rise in gas and diesel prices due to the Iran war is quickly rippling through the world’s fourth-largest economy.Now, shipping costs to the region have tripled to $7,500 per container, and Hundal is uncertain when the Tulare County company will get its money.“They will be slow in paying for those goods, and they told us whatever goods were sold already to them [that] have not shipped, please do not ship those,” he said.
“That will impact our cash flow.We have to pay the growers for them.” Since the start of the war, the average price of a gallon of diesel in California has hit $7.26.
Fertilizer prices have risen too.As the war unfolds in Iran, farmers like Hundal are being whiplashed by forces beyond their control, including the cutting off of key export markets and a sharp rise in the cost of doing business.The war has driven up the price of diesel that fuels trucks and farm and ranch equipment, as well as fertilizers critical for increasing crop yields — leading to fears that if the conflict goes on much longer it could push up prices at the market.
The average price of a gallon of diesel in California has hit $7.26, up more than $2 comp...