Analysts warn that agricultural companies facing pressure from higher production costs may cut corners on sustainable land-clearing practices, including by using fire instead of machinery.

While weather conditions such as El Nino, a longer dry season and conditions in the Indian Ocean posed an immediate threat, pressure on planters threatened to compound the haze problem in the longer run, the report warned.

At the launch of the findings on Wednesday, SIIA chairman Simon Tay said energy disruption caused by the closure of the Strait of Hormuz amid the Iran war had raised production costs for planters by about 20 to 30 per cent.

“They will face pressures to cut costs elsewhere, and this might be the use of fire, rather than the use of machinery to clear land,” he said.