Fertiliser manufacturers’ campaign for new EU anti-dumping duties on imported ureas would, if successful, cost EU farmers €2.7bn over five years, IFA president Joe Healy has said. “Fertilizers Europe is displaying a flagrant disregard for EU family farm businesses,” he said.

Existing anti-dumping duties – in place for 23 years – have been costing EU farmers €1bn per year, he said. “This has aggravated an already difficult income situation for many Irish and European farmers, as mineral fertiliser now accounts for the major cost of production, particularly on cereals, oilseeds, protein (COP) and fieldcrop farms.”

“The increased concentration of the EU industry over recent decades has resulted in a lack of competition on the internal EU fertiliser market, disproportionately affecting farmers’ incomes. I’m calling on the EU Commission to take immediate action and abolish all AD measures and customs tariffs on non-EU fertiliser imports,” he said. IFA inputs project team leader John Coughlan said that Fertilizers Europe and some of its members are living in a bubble and are ignoring the income plight of EU farmers, without whom they would have no industry.

“Unfortunately, EU manufacturers have become accustomed to hefty double-digit profit margins due to the high protection afforded over the last 23 years, with the imposition of EU anti-dumping duties (€47/t) coupled with a 6.5% customs tariff.

“Their call for ‘an average pre-tax profit per tonne of €94 (on urea and ammonium nitrate), the equivalent of a pre-tax return on sales margin of 36%,’ displays a complete level of disconnect between fertiliser manufacturers and farmers,” he said.

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