Supply of fertiliser is now as much of a worry as rising costs, as it is understood urea will be very hard to get.

Frank Glynn from Drummonds told the Irish Farmers Journal that the current fertiliser market is a “scary situation”.

“Price is one thing but supply is another. There is huge risk the whole way down the supply chain,” Glynn said.

He said farmers want to know the price of fertiliser but he can’t give it to them because he simply doesn’t know, nor does he have the stock to sell.

“It’s all speculation but prices are going to be crazy. It’s going to be scary with regards to credit as well. There will be no winners in this at all. Fertiliser companies don’t want these prices, we don’t want to sell it at these prices and farmers definitely don’t want to be paying for it.”

Another fertiliser supplier warned that credit is not just an issue for merchants but also the fertiliser companies themselves. “If our suppliers only give us the same amount of credit as before, we will only be getting one-third of our usual supply,” he said.

“India has mopped up a lot of the urea from European suppliers as a result of the China export ban meaning there is going to be less coming to us. Bar the bit we have, we will get no urea until at least January.”

The supplier advised farmers to try to get their hands on fertiliser while they can.

“My advice would be, without scaring people, for farmers to try to get fertiliser while the credit exists. The cute lads already have their fertiliser bought,” he said.