Fertiliser prices in Ireland fall by 43% in tandem with reduced gas prices

Fertiliser prices in Ireland have come down by more than 43 per cent in the past year, easing the pressure on farmers and the upward pressure on food prices generally, according to the Central Statistics Office (CSO).

Fertiliser prices soared last year in the wake of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, a significant exporter of fertiliser, and a spike in the cost of natural gas, an essential element for most nitrogen-based fertilisers.

However, this has subsequently eased.

The CSO’s latest agricultural price index for June showed that over the last 12 months, input price declines were recorded in fertiliser prices, which dropped by 43.4 per cent; motor fuel prices, down 30.7 per cent, and energy down 16.3 per cent.

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The subindex for agricultural input prices as a whole fell by 10.5 per cent year on year. The CSO, however, noted that electricity prices were still up by 34.6 per cent year on year.

Falling input prices led to a fall in output prices.

The CSO’s agricultural output price index, what farmers get paid for their produce, was down by 9.2 per cent in the 12 months to June.

The most significant decline was in milk prices which fell by more than 28 per cent between June 2022 and June 2023.

Output prices increases were recorded in cereal prices (+47.5 per cent), pig prices (+22.7 per cent) and egg prices (+16.8 per cent).

The CSO’s Grzegorz Głaczyński said on a monthly basis the agricultural output price index decreased by 2.4 per cent, while the agricultural input price index fell by 4.3 per cent, when compared with May 2023.

“The most noticeable monthly changes in the output price sub-indices were recorded in the price of cattle which dropped by 3.9 per cent, while the milk price declined by 3.7 per cent. The monthly input price sub-indices receded by 17.6 per cent in fertiliser prices and 3.7 per cent in feeding stuffs, while energy rose by 1.3 per cent,” he said.