Fury over fertiliser price hikes

As the 2018 cereal and oilseed crops begin to go in the ground, eyes are turning to the fertiliser market where prices have been on the rise.

The UK position is complicated by the weakness of sterling against the euro which, according to Calum Findlay, fertiliser manager for merchants Gleadell, currently means the price for ammonium nitrate in the UK is running at a £20 per tonne discount to Europe.

Against a background of a shortage in product and rising prices in Europe, he warns: “There is plenty of scope for these prices to move higher still, and current offers represent excellent value for money.”

Meanwhile the Irish Farmers Association (IFA) has once again raised its opposition to recent price rises for nitrogen fertiliser introduced by Europe’s dominant supplier, Yara, saying they are “totally unjustified”.

According to the IFA’S John Coughlan: “The latest moves by Yara to hike ammonium nitrate prices at the beginning of the new fertiliser season clearly demonstrate that the EU fertiliser market is dysfunctional due to a lack of any meaningful competition.”

He called on the European Commission to suspend anti-dumping duties on the imports of ammonium nitrate from Russia and, as a further step, remove customs tariffs on the imports of non-eu fertilisers into the EU.

“IFA, along with a number of other EU farming organisation, have submitted copious data showing that EU fertiliser prices are among the highest in the world due to a lack of real competition on the internal market. This is due in large part to antidumping duties and customs tariffs.”