Nepal has started selling half-filled cooking gas cylinders to curb hoarding and panic buying, officials said yesterday, following import disruptions caused by the Middle East conflict.

The landlocked Himalayan nation of 30 million relies almost entirely on India for its fossil fuel needs.

About 90 percent of India’s liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) passes through the Strait of Hormuz, a strategic chokepoint where maritime traffic has largely stalled.