Mr. Pat McCormack:

I will reiterate a few critical points. Fertiliser is an essential product to deliver sufficient grass and crops, which contribute substantially to the €14.4 billion agrifood export industry predominantly located in rural Ireland. According to the Central Statistics Office, CSO, €1.208 billion of fertiliser was purchased in 2022, which is double where it was in 2021 and volumes sales were down almost 20%. Based on the national farm survey in 2021, dairy farmers spent just over €15,000 on fertiliser. Based on these figures, the average dairy farmer purchased €44,000 worth of fertiliser in 2022.

We are all aware that 14 or 15 months ago, the war started in Ukraine. We saw a significant increase in gas prices, which was swiftly followed by a cessation of quotations for fertiliser. Some five, six or seven days later, that same fertiliser was worth substantially more. This is a considerable issue. It was an issue then and still needs to be resolved. We have seen gas prices decrease steadily and it is unfortunate that fertiliser has not followed suit, especially in Ireland. We have seen other commodity prices, including milk, fall with unprecedented rapidity over the past number of months, but not fertiliser prices. In the UK, the equivalent urea can be bought for €530 per tonne and, indeed, can be bought in other European countries at €500 per tonne. However, in the Republic of Ireland, a farmer has to pay almost 50% more at this point in time. Our national council did a survey of our membership. It is fair to say those who were nearest to competition, were best placed to get a competitive quote for their fertiliser. By that I mean the nearer a farmer was to the Border with Northern Ireland, the more competitively fertiliser was priced.

I alluded to milk prices having dropped substantially in the past few months. We have seen 16 cent come off the litre. Farmers are receiving less for their product than they were 12 months ago. Fertiliser prices are in a market where they should have been reducing substantially and the industry needs to explain why that has not happened. I do not mean to be the prophet of doom and gloom, but we will see farmer margin eroded in the coming months, with input costs as they are. What we wish to see out of today is the Competition and Consumer Protection Commission, CCPC, carry out an investigation into fertiliser prices in the spring of 2023 and publish a report with recommendations by the end of June. The commission should also look at what happened, especially in March 2022, to fertiliser prices.

The fertiliser register should require sellers of fertiliser to record the price charged to farmers and statistics published on an annual basis. We see it happen in various other sectors. There is considerable regulation on farmers, but this would be a positive move. The EU should introduce greater transparency in the fertiliser market, including the compulsory reporting of imported and production prices and prices along the fertiliser supply chain until we see who the main beneficiaries are. We saw some links in the industry in 2022 increase their profits and margins by 300%. The unjust exclusion of dairy farmers from the 2023 fodder scheme should be reversed immediately, given where milk prices are. Their exclusion in 2022 is unforgivable. The EU needs a long-term strategy to reduce its dependence on importation of fertiliser and, in particular, our dependence on Russian imports.