Iran war disrupts US small businesses with shipping complications and
higher costs
[April 02, 2026] By
MAE ANDERSON
NEW YORK (AP) — The Iran war is making life more difficult for small
business owners across the country, who are grappling with shipping
complications, higher costs and consumers tightening their grip on their
wallets.
A shoe designer is struggling to import its shoes from Vietnam; a
pistachio grower has millions of dollars worth of pistachio exports
sitting in the water; a home landscaper in Kansas City is stockpiling
fertilizer as prices skyrocket; and a Chicago electronics store owner is
facing pain at the pump.
Small business owners say the severe supply chain disruptions during the
pandemic were worse — but they fear that if the war stretches on for
months, it might start to come close.
“The costs are rising, the routes are changing, and capacity is
tightening. It’s all happening at the same time, and that’s a perfect
storm for small businesses," said Brandon Fried, executive director of
the Airforwarders Association, a trade group for U.S companies that move
cargo through the supply chain on all modes of transport.
Stranded pistachios
The U.S. is the largest exporter of pistachios, followed by Iran,
according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
At Nichols Farms, in Hanford, California, a fourth-generation owned
pistachio grower and processor, chief operating officer Jared Lorraine
said exports make up about 50% of business. They ship to Europe, China
and increasingly, the Middle East.
The effective closure of the Strait of Hormuz has made it impossible to
deliver pistachios to several clients. When the war started, he
estimates about $5 million worth of pistachios left stranded in the
water, unable to be delivered to customers in Saudi Arabia, Iran and the
United Arab Emirates.
“While much of the public attention has been focused on oil, which is
significant, really, the destruction of the food system is I think
equally as serious,” he said, adding 70% to 80% of food in the Middle
East is imported.
When the U.S. bombed Iran on Feb. 28, Nichols Farms had about $5 million
pistachios on ships that got stranded, Lorraine said. They managed to
reroute some of the pistachios: one batch was offloaded in Jeddah, in
Saudi Arabia, to be trucked to the UAE. Another two loads were able to
make it into a port in Oman after being reloaded into a smaller
container in India that could make it into that port. But $3.5 million
still sits on the water.
"A lot of it has just been in limbo," Lorraine said. "It’s literally
been sitting idle for the last three weeks and we’re just saying, OK,
what do we do?”
A more expensive route for barefoot shoes
Matthew Tran is the founder of Birchbury, a footwear brand based in Los
Angeles that makes minimalist — also known as “barefoot” -- shoes. The
company makes the shoes in Vietnam and ships to customers across the
U.S., U.K., Australia and Canada.
Typically, Tran pays about $3,500 per container shipped out of Vietnam.
But that's doubled since the war started to about $7,000 as shippers
deal with rerouting and higher insurance costs. The lead time for
shipping has increased by three to four weeks, too.
“It’s kind of like a traffic jam,” he said about the shipping time. “So
even though it doesn’t seem like it would directly affect me because I’m
going from Vietnam to America, it does affect me when there’s more
congestion.”
He said supply chain disruption was worse during COVID, when everything
came to a standstill. But he's worried about how long the war will last.
"They always say the wars are going to be short, but they’re never
short," he said. He worries about customers having less money for
discretionary spending since gas prices have surged.
[to top of second column] |
Top Class Lawn Care owner Jake Wilson fertilizes a lawn Thursday,
March 26, 2026, in Kansas City, Mo. (AP Photo/Charlie Riedel)
 “Customers don’t understand, but
also their gas prices just went up, too, right?,” he said. “People
just don’t want to spend money at the end of the day because they’re
like, ‘Oh man, gas is up a lot.’ Buying another new pair of shoes is
secondary to being able to go places with your car.”
Landscaper stockpiling fertilizer
Across the country, Jake Wilson owns Top Class Lawn Care in Kansas
City, Missouri, taking care of nearly 400 lawns across the city. The
closure of the Strait of Hormuz has upended the fertilizer business,
since the Middle East supplies close to 30% of global exports of
major fertilizers, according to the International Fertilizer
Association.
Wilson started his business in 2011 and he's built strong
relationships with his suppliers. A day or two after the Iran war
started, two suppliers emailed him and told him to expect a spike in
prices soon and suggested he make orders ahead of price increases.
Rising prices are a concern since about 70% of his customers lock in
a price for a year of lawn care and prepay at the beginning of the
year.
The last thing he wants to do, he said, is go back to customers in
the middle of the year and say the price of fertilizer increased so
he has to ask for more money.
“It’s kind of on me to try to get out ahead of it, the best I can,
so I could still try to be profitable while keeping prices where I
quoted at the beginning of the year,” he said.
He usually buys fertilizer four times a year, two or three months
ahead of the time when he plans to use it, but he's currently trying
to secure fertilizer all the way through the fall season and into
the end of the year, effectively doubling his normal order.
“I don’t want to wait till summer and go to my supplier and they
either say, well, we don’t have any product available or what we do
have is now 60%, 70% more expensive than what it was quoted in early
spring, or first of the year,” he said.
End of free shipping?
Higher gas prices have an electronics store executive considering
ending free shipping.
Abt Electronics in Chicago uses on average 25,000 gallons of diesel
fuel and 30,000 gallons of gas fuel each month to run more than 650
delivery vans and trucks, according to Jon Abt, co-president of the
retailer.
So with gas prices surging, Abt said he’s concerned. Free shipping
and free delivery with a minimum order of $35 is a perk that he
wants to keep.
“It’s an eye-opening expense, ” Abt said. “It will affect the cost
of making deliveries. This will also hit the shipping companies we
use for out-of-state deliveries,”
Abt said he hasn’t received the fuel bill for March yet, but for
now, he will absorb the cost and see how the market plays out and
what competitors do.
He added, “We like delivering things for free, and I think customers
expect it."
___
AP Business Writer Anne D'Innocenzio in New York contributed to this
report
All contents © copyright 2026 Associated Press. All rights reserved |
