A total of 1.547 million tonnes of fertiliser were sold from October 1, 2018, to September 30, 2019. This equates to 524,325t of nutrients.
611,151t of this fertiliser was sold as straight fertiliser, while 935,931t were sold as compound fertiliser. It should be noted that liquid fertilisers are also included in these figures.
Decline in 2018/2019 sales
Total fertiliser sales for the 2018/2019 season had declined by 9.78% from the previous year (2017/2018), when sales were at almost 1.715 million tonnes.
From 2014/2015 to 2017/2018 sales of fertiliser had increased each year. Almost 1.4 million tonnes of fertiliser were sold in 2014/2015. An increase of 1.18% was seen in sales in the 2015/2016 season.
Two large increases in sales then followed. Fertiliser sales increased by 9.98% to 1.55 million tonnes in 2016/2017 and increased again in 2017/2018; this time by 10.43% to 1.71 million tonnes.
Data source: DAFM
Nitrogen fertiliser
Almost 1.51 million tonnes of the total fertiliser sold contained nitrogen (N). This is down 10.81% on the year previous.
589,642t of the fertiliser containing N was straight N, while 911,059t were compound fertilisers containing N.
Phosphorus
Phosphorus (P) was contained in 921,818t of the total fertiliser sold in the 2018/2019 season. 5,904t of straight P fertiliser were sold, while 915,914t of compound fertiliser containing P was sold.
8.34% less fertiliser containing P was sold in 2018/2019 when compared with 2017/2018.
Potassium
A total of 941,501t of fertiliser containing potassium (K) was sold in 2018/2019. This was down 7.68% on 2017/2018.
15,605t of straight K fertiliser was sold and a total of 925,896t of compound fertiliser containing K was sold in 2018/2019.
Where did the data come from?
The Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine collates fertiliser sales figures from the main fertiliser manufacturers. These figures are the most recent annual fertiliser sales figures, for the period October 2018 to September 2019.
Farm to Fork strategy
The EU’s Farm to Fork strategy plans to cut the use of fertilisers across EU agriculture by 20% by 2030. The details of how this reduction will be carried out is as yet unclear.