Peadar Tóibín
Ceist:151. Deputy Peadar Tóibín asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine if his Department has undertaken any study to determine the reason for the increase in the cost of fertiliser. [26210/22]
Amharc ar fhreagraThursday, 26 May 2022
Ceisteanna (151)
Freagraí scríofa
The fertiliser market is driven by global supply and demand, and whilst there are a number of factors influencing fertiliser price, the major driving factors in the rise in prices are increased global demand, rising production costs and issues with supply for certain fertiliser products.
Russia’s invasion of Ukraine exacerbated these issues and led to further significant hikes in energy, feed and fertiliser prices and significant concerns around supply chain disruption. This is being felt at farm level and is something that I am acutely aware of.
No fertilisers are manufactured in Ireland, resulting in indigenous fertiliser companies being price-takers, dependent on global supply and demand and subject to Euro exchange rates against the US dollar and other currencies.
There has been an increased demand for fertiliser from large grain producing countries, which is being fuelled by strong global grain markets. This increased global demand has impacted on supplies and put upward pressure on prices.
Also, the increased price of gas, which is a key input into Nitrogen fertiliser production, has had a significant impact in recent months and continues to contribute to further upward trend in fertiliser prices.
As gas accounts for a high percentage of operating costs for the production of N fertiliser, some European Nitrogen producers had scaled back production and halted operations in some cases. However, many of these production facilities have now come back on stream in light of the likely increased economic returns of the present market situation.
EU anti-dumping measures on imports of fertilisers from certain Third Countries have added to the price of fertiliser imports, however, the EU Commission is currently examining the effects of removing these tariffs.
The significant increase of fertiliser is having an impact at farm level and it is something I am acutely aware of. Both myself and the rest of the Government have sought to insulate farm families as much as possible from increases in all input costs.