Well as other’s already mentioned China get’s roughly ~20% of their oil from this region. All of that oil has to go through the Strait of Hormuz.
The most interesting part about why this is bad for food security in any country is that our agriculture systems runs on oil (you could say we eat the oil). You need to run your farming equipment & all the processing that is needed to make the food edible.
Transporting food from the countryside to cities where most people live is also very “Oil”/Gasoline intensive. At the same time you need to cool/freeze the food (needs electricity which is mostly fossil fuels still).
So if your Oil supply runs dry your just fucked. Modern society will just not be able to function with it’s City focused infrastructure.
Oh and the most relevant part is that fertilizers use a lot of oil to be produced. Well it’s not directly involved but still relevant.
The Haber-Bosch ammonia production needs Natural Gas (by product from Oil extraction) to function or you can substitute it with
Petroleum Coke (Petcoke) which is a byproduct of oil refining.
Having less fertilizer is a HUGE problem for the next harvest season because your yields will be much lower which in turn reduces food availability.
So yea everything that you eat & is grown by a farm needs a fuck ton of oil.
you could even say that a globalised food supply chain is not the ideal arrangement and that localised food production should be every country’s priority with surplus going to market. National and global corporations don’t do this because the local markets are too small to deliver industrial scale profit, but the most efficient approach to food production is least amount of travel and processing as possible. It’s not for profit, it’s for efficient food supplies.
I guess they’re referring to China getting 11% of it’s crude from Iran and nearly 50% from Arab countries that use the hermouz straight. They also have a huge reserve that should last them 3-4 months (or 6-8 months assuming they only lose 50%).
Or… they’ll import more from Russia and reduce consumption to last much longer.
It’s a national emergency, but I don’t think they’re facing mass starvation because of it… Would love for them to expand on what they mean.
Well it’s a major shipping corridor isn’t it and mines tend to be sort of a detriment to that that’s kind of the whole point really.
Add on to the fact that China isn’t all that industrialised and tends to import a lot of its food and you’ve got a problem. The Chinese government are more competent than most (not really a shining endorsement of capitalism is it) so they might have pivoted to India but I don’t know how much time they would require.
The amazing thing about all of this is it probably isn’t going to increase the price of RAM, so that’s the first for 2026.
I’m not cheering for China to come out rosy, but look, they have huge strategic reserves, a much bigger penetration of electrification, and the ability to ramp that up quickly. Overall, China is probably one of the BEST positioned countries to weather this - the impacts on other countries, including US allies, will be FAR worse. This is cutting off your nose to spite your face.
A sea mine is like a land mine in that you always have a safe path through that you know and can communicate to allies. Even if enemies know the location of the minefields, you’re still forcing them to go through an area of your choosing rather than allowing them free movement. Most likely, Iran will have mined the areas closer to the UAE side of the strait, forcing any ships to hug Iran’s coastline and allowing them to strike with even their shortest range missiles.
If they are mining the strait it’s to put pressure on the US.
They would not give up that pressure.
Also, either they are communicating with the mines to tell them which commercial ships have Chinese bound cargo, (I guess that is possible, but I have never heard of it) or they are indiscriminate.
On the other hand, if they have a live data link to the mines, then that would be a pretty good way for minesweepers to sweep up the mines. That doesn’t sound like a really prudent course of action.
You think China would just throw in the towel and do nothing about it? They’re sitting on the second most funded military in the world. They’ll put the soldiers to good use and they’ll fight their way to whatever they need. This isn’t the 30’s anymore.
That would have been true like 20 years ago, but the PLAN is absolutely a bluewater navy capable of projecting power. Their focus is on their backyard, but they have 3 aircraft carriers, 64 destroyers (with two more of the advanced type 55 commissioned a couple days ago), and 69 submarines.
If this is true, China is soooooooooo fucked.
I’m talking mass starvation.
How so? I’m not challenging you, I honestly just don’t know what relationship you’re talking about.
Well as other’s already mentioned China get’s roughly ~20% of their oil from this region. All of that oil has to go through the Strait of Hormuz.
The most interesting part about why this is bad for food security in any country is that our agriculture systems runs on oil (you could say we eat the oil). You need to run your farming equipment & all the processing that is needed to make the food edible. Transporting food from the countryside to cities where most people live is also very “Oil”/Gasoline intensive. At the same time you need to cool/freeze the food (needs electricity which is mostly fossil fuels still). So if your Oil supply runs dry your just fucked. Modern society will just not be able to function with it’s City focused infrastructure.
Oh and the most relevant part is that fertilizers use a lot of oil to be produced. Well it’s not directly involved but still relevant. The Haber-Bosch ammonia production needs Natural Gas (by product from Oil extraction) to function or you can substitute it with Petroleum Coke (Petcoke) which is a byproduct of oil refining. Having less fertilizer is a HUGE problem for the next harvest season because your yields will be much lower which in turn reduces food availability.
So yea everything that you eat & is grown by a farm needs a fuck ton of oil.
you could even say that a globalised food supply chain is not the ideal arrangement and that localised food production should be every country’s priority with surplus going to market. National and global corporations don’t do this because the local markets are too small to deliver industrial scale profit, but the most efficient approach to food production is least amount of travel and processing as possible. It’s not for profit, it’s for efficient food supplies.
I guess they’re referring to China getting 11% of it’s crude from Iran and nearly 50% from Arab countries that use the hermouz straight. They also have a huge reserve that should last them 3-4 months (or 6-8 months assuming they only lose 50%).
Or… they’ll import more from Russia and reduce consumption to last much longer.
It’s a national emergency, but I don’t think they’re facing mass starvation because of it… Would love for them to expand on what they mean.
Edit: https://www.cnbc.com/2026/03/11/iran-ships-oil-china-strait-hormuz-closure-.html
“Iran has sent at least 11.7 million barrels of crude oil through the Strait of Hormuz since the war began”
Well it’s a major shipping corridor isn’t it and mines tend to be sort of a detriment to that that’s kind of the whole point really.
Add on to the fact that China isn’t all that industrialised and tends to import a lot of its food and you’ve got a problem. The Chinese government are more competent than most (not really a shining endorsement of capitalism is it) so they might have pivoted to India but I don’t know how much time they would require.
The amazing thing about all of this is it probably isn’t going to increase the price of RAM, so that’s the first for 2026.
I’ve heard this before from people - that this is some kind of 3D chess attack on China, but that doesn’t hold water.
https://www.cnbc.com/2026/03/09/china-oil-shock-iran-war-hormuz-energy-transition.html
I’m not cheering for China to come out rosy, but look, they have huge strategic reserves, a much bigger penetration of electrification, and the ability to ramp that up quickly. Overall, China is probably one of the BEST positioned countries to weather this - the impacts on other countries, including US allies, will be FAR worse. This is cutting off your nose to spite your face.
Trump and Hegseth aren’t playing 3D anything.
Bubsy 3D.
Didn’t get chinese and idian ships get an exception from the closure.
No, but at least one Chinese ship ran the strait yesterday. And a Greek one I think.
Sea mines are indiscriminate weapons.
A sea mine is like a land mine in that you always have a safe path through that you know and can communicate to allies. Even if enemies know the location of the minefields, you’re still forcing them to go through an area of your choosing rather than allowing them free movement. Most likely, Iran will have mined the areas closer to the UAE side of the strait, forcing any ships to hug Iran’s coastline and allowing them to strike with even their shortest range missiles.
They really aren’t anymore. Mines have advanced a lot in terms of technology. You’d be amazed.
If they are mining the strait it’s to put pressure on the US.
They would not give up that pressure.
Also, either they are communicating with the mines to tell them which commercial ships have Chinese bound cargo, (I guess that is possible, but I have never heard of it) or they are indiscriminate.
On the other hand, if they have a live data link to the mines, then that would be a pretty good way for minesweepers to sweep up the mines. That doesn’t sound like a really prudent course of action.
You think China would just throw in the towel and do nothing about it? They’re sitting on the second most funded military in the world. They’ll put the soldiers to good use and they’ll fight their way to whatever they need. This isn’t the 30’s anymore.
The People’s Liberation Army’s Navy is designed to reach Taiwan. They have no ability to defend ships all the way from the Persian Gulf.
India and every country on the way also NEEDS oil and will go out and take it to prevent disaster in their own countries.
China is at the wrong end of straw.
That would have been true like 20 years ago, but the PLAN is absolutely a bluewater navy capable of projecting power. Their focus is on their backyard, but they have 3 aircraft carriers, 64 destroyers (with two more of the advanced type 55 commissioned a couple days ago), and 69 submarines.