El aumento de los precios del petróleo genera un efecto multiplicador, y el conflicto en Oriente Medio se extiende a textiles y bebidas.

Finance news from the people, March 30. Recently, Yemen’s Houthi armed forces have fired multiple ballistic missiles into southern Israel. With the Houthis entering the scene, the risk along the Red Sea’s key waterway, the Strait of Mandeb, has clearly heated up. Analysts warn that the impact of this conflict on the oil market is continuously expanding; once it persists for another few weeks, even if the situation later eases, supply restoration may not be able to keep up in time, and global crude oil inventories could be significantly depleted. The impact on oil prices will not stop at the energy sector, but will be transmitted downstream through basic raw materials such as naphtha to the downstream petrochemical industry chain, ultimately reaching products such as plastics, permeating almost all consumer goods. The founder of energy consulting firm KSG pointed out that because a large share of global commodities rely on plastics for packaging and transportation, the range of affected everyday goods will be very broad; shortages and price increases in petrochemical products will gradually be transmitted to multiple sectors including textiles, detergents, food, and beverages. Schwartz, co-founder of supply chain analysis company Altana, said that the shock to the petrochemical market has a “multiplier effect”—that is, a one-time cost increase will be amplified layer by layer throughout the industrial chain. Altana’s data shows that the Gulf region shipped petrochemical feedstocks, intermediate products, and finished products totaling approximately 733 billion dollars, which will further affect downstream goods of about 3.8 trillion dollars—from toothpaste to towels—covering almost all categories of daily consumer consumption. (CCTV Finance)