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Farmers are set to feel the pinch after the Iran war sent red diesel prices skyrocketing. Prices have already climbed since the start of the Ukraine conflict, with the latest spikes coming after a poor harvest and a five-year low in wheat prices.

Red diesel, a type of fuel used in agricultural machinery, has surged by about 55% since February. Shadow farming minister Robbie Moore warned that “with the Strait of Hormuz closed, red diesel prices have dramatically increased from an average of 67p just last month to farmers being quoted up to 135p a litre”. Similar surges were seen when Russia launched its war in Ukraine, with prices doubling. Fertiliser has likewise risen substantially in price, with ammonia hitting a three-year high.

About 35% of nitrogen-based fertiliser is exported through the Strait of Hormuz, which Iran has effectively shut down, as well as 45% of global sulphur exports, which is extensively used to produce phosphate-based fertiliser.

Mr Moore told GB News: “The farming community has already been under attack by this Labour Government. We’ve seen that with the changes in inheritance tax, with the delinked payments dramatically reducing to levels that the Government said that they would never reduce those to.”

He added: “And now, of course, as a result of the challenge in Iran, fertiliser prices are going to be increasing.”

The shutdown of the vital trade route has caused a ripple effect across the global economy, seeing a strangulation of critical supplies as traffic through the Strait comes to a halt.

Fertiliser makes up the largest cost, almost a quarter, for the majority of arable farmers, fuelling fears that a surge in prices will be passed onto Britons through food inflation.

Fuel, such as red diesel, contributes to 10% of the cost for the average agricultural business, meaning that in total some 35% of basic costs are now climbing for the nation’s farmers.

Mr Moore added: “All of this increases the cost of production for many of those growing crops that need that fertiliser, that need that level of work to be taking place in the fields right now utilising red diesel.”

He warned these escalating costs would ultimately filter through to supermarket shelves, affecting ordinary consumers across the country.

“And therefore that will ultimately have consequences for food inflation, hitting the vast majority of people that are going out and buying their food as they do their weekly shop,” he said.

Mr Moore concluded: “So this is deeply, deeply worrying. And of course, the challenges with red diesel and fertiliser are an added increase on top of the cashflow pressures that this Labour Government has put on our farming community as a result of the choices that they have made in the last two Budgets.”

The Government has been approached for comment.