Fertilizer prices fluctuate like a kaleidoscope. In January this year, ammonium nitrate cost PLN 1120 / t net – now about 3 thousand. PLN, similarly RSM 32 percent. in January it was valued at 915 PLN / t net, now at 2600, ammonium phosphate cost 1880 now at 3300 PLN / t net. The farmers are rebelling.
We already wrote on farmer.pl that the Lublin Chamber of Agriculture addressed its position on fertilizers to representatives of the government, to the minister of agriculture and the Office of Competition and Consumer Protection.
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Meeting with farmers about the horrendous prices of fertilizers
Today, on October 6, a meeting of the Protesting Committee of Farmers of the West Pomeranian Voivodeship will be held with the participation of the West Pomeranian Voivode and a representative of the Grupa Azoty fertilizer manufacturer on this matter.
October 1 this year because the chairman of NSZZ RI “Solidarność”, Teresa Hałas, submitted the application to the Office of Competition and Consumer Protection in connection with the ongoing strong growth in the agricultural market fertilizer prices.
While arguing the legitimacy of the submitted application, Hałas emphasized that in recent weeks she had repeatedly received comments from individual farmers regarding the strong increase in the prices of mineral fertilizers and the continuing upward trend in this regard.
– I also point out with deep concern that in recent days, economic entities have coincidentally increased the prices of their products by over 100% for each product, which in my opinion constitutes an activity restricting competition and infringing the collective interests of consumers, as well as aimed at anti-competitive concentration of entrepreneurs, consequently, negative effects for farms run by Polish farmers, including the collapse of the profitability of agricultural production – stated.
Earlier in this case, a letter was also sent to Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki with a request to thoroughly analyze the situation – whether the prices of fertilizers are not excessively high and to intervene, and to possibly take measures to compensate farmers for losses as a result of the sharp increase in prices.
Minister Puda comments on high fertilizer prices
In turn, Minister of Agriculture Grzegorz Puda emphasized after Monday’s meeting with agricultural organizations, including AGROunia, that the topic would be clarified this week in cooperation with Deputy Prime Minister Jacek Sasin, Minister of State Assets.
– As far as fertilizers are concerned, this directly concerns farmers. Therefore, we are in contact with Prime Minister Jacek Sasin, who supervises the two largest companies producing fertilizers in Poland, I am talking about Azoty Puławy and Anwil. We will have a working meeting this week, on this issue, there will be a representative office of the Ministry of Agriculture and a representative office of state assets. The topic is extremely important, please remember that fertilizers in Poland are largely dependent on the gas price, which has now also increased. We will explain it further, already at the above-mentioned meeting – said Grzegorz Puda at the time.
Grupa Azoty on the availability of fertilizers
We asked the representatives of Grupa Azoty not about the high prices, but about the raised problem of the availability of fertilizers, which are reported by farmers, not only in terms of UAN, but even the entire range of fertilizers from the company’s portfolio.
– We assume that the increased activity of farmers in the purchase of fertilizers is related to the information on the increasing gas prices. This raw material accounts for a significant part of the cost of fertilizer production in Europe. It is worth noting that the Grupa Azoty Group, as one of the few concerns producing fertilizers, has not reduced production at its plants. In our opinion, the current situation in terms of the availability of fertilizers is an accumulation of purchasing reactions from farmers who receive information about rising prices. The priority for Grupa Azoty at this point is to redirect our products mainly to the domestic market and thus ensure the greatest possible availability of fertilizers to Polish farmers – said Monika Darnobyt, spokesman for Grupa Azoty SA.
– At the same time, we encourage you to look for our products in other authorized points of sale in the region in the absence of fertilizers at the selected distributor – she added.
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Fertilizer prices have been going crazy in recent days. Why? Mainly because we have record gas prices. In the case of nitrogen fertilizers, natural gas accounts for 60-80% of production costs. In addition, political factors among the key fertilizer producers (China, Belarus). (1) pic.twitter.com/OMCsT6FyOF
– Jakub Olipra (@JOlipra) October 6, 2021
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