VIC startup cops $28,000 import bill as global conflict stokes oil prices

Surging oil prices are being felt in the Australian startup sector, with the founder of climate tech startup Kapture spending $28,000 to import a single component worth a third of that amount.

Intensifying conflict between Yemeni forces and Houthi rebels has exacerbated an oil supply shortage kick-started by the US and Israeli war on Iran, with Brent crude oil prices now currently above $US100 a barrel.

While oil supplies from the region have recovered somewhat in the past week, diesel and jet fuel prices are still well above their long-term averages.

Those elevated prices were felt first-hand by Kapture CEO and founder Raj Bagri, who last week imported a component from China to the startup’s base in Melbourne.

With an imminent pre-commercial trial for its modular carbon-capture system, Kapture had little choice but to airfreight the part, instead of using ocean shipping.

And tasking an Australian manufacturer with developing the part would have involved a months-long lead time and a $60,000 price tag, Bagri told SmartCompany.

“We’ve previously brought in all different components, and it’s usually a few hundred dollars, or a large component might be slightly more,” she said.

The founder took to Instagram to share her frustration at the large but necessary payment, earning the sympathies of other founders facing their own surging costs.

“People said, ‘We’re facing the exact same issues. It’s outrageous. How can anyone do business?’”

Once landed in Australia, Kapture spent thousands more on fuel surcharges when delivering the component from Melbourne to the test site in Sydney.

Bagri said that recent import price shock will not influence Kapture’s pricing in the long-term, but feared for other startups reliant on continual imports for specific materials and chemicals.

“If an enterprise here has a really great idea that requires imported chemicals, it’s just going to be so much harder,” she said.

The Australian Bureau of Statistics found import prices of all types rose 6.2% in the twelve months to June 2026, bolstered by the highest quarterly rise — 5.1% in the June 2026 quarter — since December 2021.

In July, Rachael McCririck, ABS head of prices statistics, said crude oil was not the only raw material constrained by the conflict.

“The rise in import prices was driven by the closure of the Strait of Hormuz, which disrupted global supplies of oil, fertiliser and plastics,” she said.

That same month, Yemen’s Houthi rebels initiated a naval blockade of the Bab el-Mandeb Strait, restricting shipments off the west coast of oil-producing nation Saudi Arabia.

That strait is seen as a key alternative to shipping through the Strait of Hormuz.

Saudi-led forces have recaptured some strategic positions, but the bottleneck still contributed to fuel prices surging again in late 2026.

Data from the International Air Transport Association shows that in the week ending October 2, jet fuel prices traded for more than double what they did in the prior corresponding period.

Those heightened costs have bled into everyday inflation, with the Reserve Bank of Australia pointing to global energy prices as a key factor in its decision to hike rates last month to 4.6%.

With the new component landed, Bagri said Kapture is developing the successor to a system previously trialled by Western Australian regional energy provider Horizon Power.

Despite shipping costs affecting the startup, Bagri said Kapture is exploring how its systems could work in the maritime sector, reducing emissions in one of the planet’s most carbon-intensive sectors.

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