Urea rockets to €800/t as war continues

Protected urea has risen by as much as €200/t in the space of a week as the unrest in the Middle East continues.

Co-ops and merchants who have availability of protected urea are now gone to €800/t while some dairy co-op stores, as well as some private merchants, have pulled all sales of urea products as supply tightens. Dairygold said that supplies of urea remain tight but that it has urea-based products available and is currently continuing to sell.

“I think prices of protected urea could be roughly €850/t to €860/t when it comes back on the market,” a co-op sales rep told the Irish Farmers Journal as the paper went to print on Wednesday.

Meanwhile, CAN has increased from around €440/t last week to between anywhere between €490/t and €540/t, depending on the retailer and amount purchased.

Quotes for 18-6-12 are coming in at between €620 and €660/t, while 24-2.5-10 is at €570/t and 27-2.5-5 at €590/t.

Speaking at the Irish Cattle and Sheep Association (ICSA) AGM this week, Minister for Agriculture Martin Heydon said the Government is monitoring the spike in energy costs closely.

“We have to be careful that in any intervention we make that we don’t make a bad situation worse, that we don’t facilitate price rises by jumping in too quickly.

“I’ve been a TD for 15 years now and during those four terms I’ve seen some remarkable things happen – major shocks to our economy, from Brexit to COVID-19 to Ukraine and beyond.

“Government hasn’t been found wanting to support our farmers,” he said.