Some co-ops and fertiliser retailers have been refusing to quote farmers a specific price for a specific volume of product when they inquire, one farming organisation has said.
President of the Irish Creamery Milk Suppliers’ Association (ICMSA) Pat McCormack has said that a number of the association’s members have reported that stockists will not provide them with a cost estimate when they ask for one.
McCormack labelled this as “unacceptable” and said that farmers planning to spread fertiliser in the coming weeks “are absolutely entitled to know” what it is going to cost them to do this.
His comments come as speculation grows that co-ops and retailers “are intent” on selling fertiliser at previously high prices, despite a reduction in the international price.
The refusal of sellers to confirm a price amounts to “an unacceptable hedge positition being taken at the expense of the farmers”, McCormack said.
He added that farmers have every right to know the price of this important product.
“Fertiliser stocks will be purchased over the next few weeks, and it won’t do for the sellers to be ‘humming and hawing’ and trying to delay taking new orders untill they have their old stocks sold at the old higher prices.
“This is an unacceptable hedge position being taken at the expense of the farmer who must know that his fertiliser order has been taken, will be delivered and that he will be paying an exact amount.
“The co-ops and all other fertiliser sellers are much better positioned to play a ‘wait and see’ game with international commodities like fertiliser than are individual farmers,” McCormack pointed out.
Fertiliser price trends
Following the invasion of Ukraine by Russia – the world’s biggest exporter of fertiliser – almost a year ago, prices began to soar as the European Union introduced trade sanctions.
MEPs on the Agriculture Committee said that Russia abused its industry dominance and used both fertiliser and gas supplies as a political weapon.
They recently warned that heavy use of these products in the EU risks fueling the Russian war effort and called for all mineral fertilisers, apart from those coming from Russia and Belarus, to continue to be temporarily exempt from import duties to help stabilise prices.