The cost of green diesel surged in July, recording its largest month-on-month increase since March 2026, according to latest figures from the Association of Farm and Forestry Contractors in Ireland (FCI).

The latest FCI Agri-Diesel Price Index showed that average green diesel prices continued to climb throughout July, even as white diesel prices eased and, in some cases, returned to pre-Middle East conflict levels.

FCI said: “For farm contractors, diesel is not an optional cost: it is an essential input that powers harvesting, planting, cultivation and a wide range of agricultural operations.

“Unlike motorists though, contractors purchase fuel in bulk and therefore often have little choice over where they source their fuel, with many rural areas served by only a small number of suppliers.”

FCI said that this lack of competition may be contributing to “disproportionately higher price increases for agricultural diesel”, raising questions about “whether the recent rises can be fully justified by movements in wholesale fuel markets alone”.

‘No obvious justification’

FCI national chair, Norman Egar said: "While white diesel prices fell back below pre-war levels at many filling stations during July, green diesel never returned to pre-war levels.

Egar added that the only real difference is that agricultural diesel contains a marker dye.

He said: “There is no obvious justification for the scale of the price volatility we have experienced in recent months.

"Contractors, who depend on diesel every day to provide essential services to farmers, deserve greater transparency around how these prices are determined.”

FCI is calling for greater scrutiny and transparency in the agricultural fuel market to ensure that green diesel prices accurately reflect “underlying wholesale costs” and that farm contractors are not “disproportionately bearing the burden of unjustified price increases”.