Written answers
Tuesday, 14 May 2024
Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine
Farm Costs
Peadar Tóibín (Meath West, Aontú)
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493. To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine the average cost of a bag of fertiliser in each of the past ten years and to date in 2024. [21721/24]
Charlie McConalogue (Donegal, Fianna Fail)
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Given the wide variety of fertiliser products available, it is not possible to provide the analysis as requested. In addition, my Department collects data on fertiliser production and sales but not prices, as this is a commercial matter.
Accordingly, the following table sets out the CSO Agricultural Price Index for fertilisers for February (the latest month available this year) for the years 2014 to 2024 which provides an average cost to farmers.
CSO Agricultural Price Index (excluding VAT) - Fertilisers
| Month | Index |
|---|---|
| February 2015 | 123.7 |
| February 2016 | 116.8 |
| February 2017 | 99.1 |
| February 2018 | 84.9 |
| February 2019 | 92.7 |
| February 2020 | 83.6 |
| February 2021 | 82.5 |
| February 2022 | 179.9 |
| February 2023 | 223.1 |
| February 2024 | 122.7 |
Base Year 2010=100
Based on the above data, it can be seen that the price of fertiliser - like most commodities - is cyclical in nature. Despite significant rises in recent years, the overall average price index is broadly in line with what it was ten years ago having seen strong downward pressure on prices during the course of the past twelve months.
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