SAN FRANCISCO/AHMEDABAD, India ¨C Kevin Kelly is in a tough spot. What he says are unprecedented price increases in the weeks since the United States waged war on Iran mean the Californian, who makes plastic bags for groceries, may have to break contracts he cannot afford to honor with his customers.
Thousands of miles away in India, gas shortages have closed dozens of plants that export aluminum products around the world. And in Britain, some farmers are eking out their fertilizer stocks as prices soar.
With the war in its sixth week and almost a fifth of the world¡¯s oil supplies affected by Iran¡¯s limits on shipping through the Strait of Hormuz, consequences are spreading from financial markets into business activity, raising risks of a global economic pullback ¡ª or even recession.
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