Even the mainstream media is now openly admitting that shortages are coming. But right now I am seeing so much apathy about the war in the Middle East and the global supply chain disruptions that are happening right in front of our eyes. So many people seem to be convinced that the war will end soon and things will go right back to the way that they were before. I really wish that was true. But the Iranians just told us that traffic through the Strait of Hormuz “will never return to its former state, especially for America and Israel”, and that means that this war is not going to end any time soon. As a result, the global supply chain disruptions that we are experiencing now are going to get far worse.
Most people living in the United States simply do not realize what is really going on out there.
All over the world, supplies of essential materials are getting very tight.
Even though this war is only a little over one month old, CNN is telling us that we could soon be facing “a shortage of nearly everything”…
One month into the war in Iran, a growing shortage of crude oil is threatening to morph into something worse: a shortage of nearly everything.
This isn’t some rumor on social media.
This is CNN.
One of the most powerful news organizations in the entire world is openly admitting that widespread global shortages are rapidly approaching.
According to CNN’s report, people in South Korea are already panic-buying trash bags, and manufacturers in Taiwan are already completely running out of plastic…
In South Korea, where people have been panic-buying trash bags, the government has encouraged event organizers to minimize use of disposable items. Taiwan has started a hotline for manufacturers that have run out of plastic, while its rice farmers told local media they may hike prices because they can’t get vacuum-sealed bags.
In Japan, the oil crisis has sparked fears that patients with chronic kidney failure won’t be able to get treatment due to a lack of plastic medical tubes used in hemodialysis. Malaysian glove manufacturers say a dearth of a petroleum byproduct needed to make rubber latex is threatening global supplies of medical gloves.
“This spills into everything very, very quickly: beer, noodles, chips, toys, cosmetics,” said Dan Martin, co-head of business intelligence at Dezan Shira & Associates, an advisory firm that helps international businesses expand in Asia.
That’s because plastic caps, crates, snack bags and containers are becoming more difficult to procure. Petroleum derivatives are also needed to make adhesives for footwear and furniture, industrial lubricants for machinery and solvents for paints and cleaning processes, Martin added.
I was floored when I first read that.
We are just a little over one month into this war.
What will things look like three or four months from now if this war is still raging?
Just about everything that we buy either contains plastic or comes wrapped in plastic.
If you sit down and think about this for a while, it will hit you like a ton of bricks.
We are in an enormous amount of trouble.
The only way out would be for this war to come to a rapid conclusion.
But that isn’t going to happen.
The IRGC is running the show in Iran, and they will not accept any of President Trump’s offers.
The IRGC has issued their own list of demands which the U.S. and Israel can never possibly accept, and they have announced that traffic through the Strait of Hormuz “will never return to its former state” even after the war ends…
The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Naval Command said in a post to X overnight that the Strait of Hormuz “will never return to its former state, especially for America and Israel.”
“The navy of the IRGC is in the process of completing the operational preparations for the announced plan of Iran’s officials for the new order in the Persian Gulf,” the statement said.
Iran wants to be given control over traffic through the Strait of Hormuz as part of any potential deal.
There is no way that is going to happen.
So the war is going to continue, and control of the Strait of Hormuz is going to have to be taken from Iran by force.
Sadly, global supplies of oil are just going to keep getting tighter and tighter, and fuel prices are going to continue to rise.
Here in the United States, the average price of a gallon of gasoline has already risen by 86 cents over the past month…
The national average now stands at $4.11 per gallon, up about 86 cents from a month ago, according to AAA. Costs are climbing across nearly every region, with some states already well above the U.S. average.
On the West Coast, drivers are seeing the highest costs, with prices reaching $5.92 per gallon in California and $5.37 in Washington. Meanwhile, on the East Coast, gas prices have surpassed $4 in several areas, including $4.27 in Washington, D.C., and $4.06 in New York.
If the war cannot be brought to a quick end, this is just the beginning.
Even more importantly, the average price of a gallon of diesel has risen by $1.45 over the past month…
Diesel has climbed to $5.61, up about $1.45 over the past month. As a key fuel for freight, shipping, and public transportation, it is particularly sensitive to refining capacity constraints and global supply disruptions.
Our farms run on diesel.
Nearly our entire trucking industry runs on diesel.
The price of nearly everything that you purchase on a regular basis is affected by the price of diesel, and so this is really bad news for all of us.
In California, the average price of a gallon of diesel has reached a whopping $7.67 per gallon…
The average price of the fuel – used to power everything from trucks to industrial machinery – sat at a statewide $7.67 per gallon Sunday, according to the American Automobile Association, also the most Californians have ever paid.
Now experts are warning the huge surge is going to hit consumers in the pocket by summer, with everyday goods set to skyrocket.
Just weeks ago, on March 2, diesel in California was $3.90 a gallon, meaning prices have doubled in a month.
Jet fuel prices are going through the roof too.
In fact, they have approximately doubled since the end of February…
Jet fuel prices, as a result, reached $195 at the end of March, up nearly $100 from the end of February when the war began. And as the war drags on, jet fuel is getting harder to come by for countries that don’t produce their own or have limited supplies.
International Energy Agency Executive Director Fatih Biro said during a podcast interview earlier this week that the loss of oil in April would be twice what was lost in March, resulting in a growing scarcity of jet fuel and diesel.
“We are seeing that in Asia, but soon, I think, in April or May, it would come to Europe,” he said.
Supplies of jet fuel have gotten extremely tight.
We are already witnessing chaos in some parts of Asia, and we are being warned that Europe could be next…
June Goh, a senior oil market analyst at Sparta Commodities, said in a post on X that jet fuel requires specialized storage, which means there is less stored than other products, like gasoline.
“Travel has gotten a lot more expensive in Asia, with many airlines adding fuel surcharges or downright canceling flights,” she wrote. “Europe is facing imminent jet fuel supply shortages. Brace yourselves.”
If you need to fly somewhere, I would do it soon.
Flights have been canceled all over Asia, and now European airlines are starting to follow suit…
Lufthansa is also prepping for the worst, a spokesperson told Bloomberg. The company has teams developing crisis response plans, and could ground up to 40 aircraft, the spokesperson said.
A spokesperson for Scandinavian Airlines said it would cut about 1,000 flights due to the surge in jet fuel costs, The Wall Street Journal reported.
This is not something that is going to happen someday.
This is happening now.
And even if the war ended tomorrow, conditions would not go back to the way that they were before.
In fact, Mark Zandi is warning that we might not ever see pre-war prices again…
“I don’t think we’re going back to the pre-war prices for the foreseeable future,” said Mark Zandi, the chief economist of Moody’s Analytics and among the first economists to predict the 2008 financial crisis, speaking with Politico for its report Monday. “Certainly won’t be this year, won’t even be next year. Might not be ever.”
There is no way that global energy markets can simply snap back to pre-war conditions.
Too much energy infrastructure has already been destroyed.
If Iran does not agree to make a deal before Trump’s Tuesday deadline, things will get a whole lot worse.
This is the greatest challenge to the global economy that most of us have seen in our entire lifetimes.
For now, most people living in the western world continue to believe that everything will work out just fine somehow, but reality will give them a wake up call soon enough.
Michael’s new book entitled “10 Prophetic Events That Are Coming Next” is available in paperback and for the Kindle on Amazon.com, and you can subscribe to his Substack newsletter at michaeltsnyder.substack.com.
About the Author: Michael Snyder’s new book entitled “10 Prophetic Events That Are Coming Next” is available in paperback and for the Kindle on Amazon.com. He has also written nine other books that are available on Amazon.com including “Chaos”, “End Times”, “7 Year Apocalypse”, “Lost Prophecies Of The Future Of America”, “The Beginning Of The End”, and “Living A Life That Really Matters”. When you purchase any of Michael’s books you help to support the work that he is doing. You can also get his articles by email as soon as he publishes them by subscribing to his Substack newsletter. Michael has published thousands of articles on The Economic Collapse Blog, End Of The American Dream and The Most Important News, and he always freely and happily allows others to republish those articles on their own websites. These are such troubled times, and people need hope. John 3:16 tells us about the hope that God has given us through Jesus Christ: “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.” If you have not already done so, we strongly urge you to invite Jesus Christ to be your Lord and Savior today.