Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
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513. To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine the degree to which his Department monitors the costs of farm inputs such as fertilisers; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [7461/18]

Michael Creed (Cork North West, Fine Gael)
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The Central Statistics Office (CSO) monitors and collects data on the price of fertilisers on a monthly basis. In addition, my Department receives data on the type and quantity of fertilisers and lime sold on a quarterly basis from industry and both sources are used to calculate the overall input costs of fertiliser on a national basis.

Total Irish fertiliser costs of €503.2m were recorded for 2015/16. There was an increase of 1.1% in the quantity of fertiliser used during this period to 1,411,913 tonnes. For 2016/2017, sales of fertiliser increased by 10% to 1,552,809 tonnes. Data supplied by the CSO shows a reduction in the cost of fertiliser of 14.9% for the year 2016 . Accordingly, the projected input fertiliser cost for 2016/17 is marginally up at c.€505.2m, albeit based on increased sales volumes.

Currently, Europe is only 80% self-sufficient in fertiliser production and must import 20% of its requirements. As such, European and Irish fertiliser prices are strongly linked to global prices and heavily influenced by supply and demand.