Paris, Oct. 26, 2021 (Nouvelle Solidarité) – According to the Belgian farm website Le Sillon Belge, “in view of the recent rise in fertilizer prices, a direct consequence of the increase in gas prices on the world market,” Poland, supported in particular by France, called in a note to the EU commission to take specific measures to stabilize or temporarily compensate for the high cost of fertilizers.
The Polish note reports, among other things, that the prices of mineral fertilizers in the world, compared to last year, have increased by about 79.3%. In June, 2021 the World Bank Fertilizer Price Index reached 119.8 points, its highest level since May 2013; a year earlier, it was only 66.8 points. On the other hand, it adds that during 2021, the price index of energy commodities increased by 92.6%, including 177.6% for natural gas, and 66.7% for phosphate fertilizer.
If this trend of rising fertilizer prices is not stopped in time, says the note, “it will become extremely difficult, if not impossible, to meet the expectations of the Green Pact.”
In response, the EU Commission proposed on Oct. 13 a “toolbox” to help member states identify and deploy measures to deal with the current situation. These measures do not include breaking up the dictatorship of the markets by means of long-term contracts, but allowing cuts of energy taxes, including VAT, to reduce the pain.
Agriculture Commissioner Janusz Wojciechowski, said that “the big question now is whether this increase in the price of energy and some commodities is a brief and transitory development, or whether it is a more worrying development pointing to higher inflation.”
For him, it is clear that farmers could not bear the burden of these higher costs alone: “The costs must be shared by all participants in the food chain — manufacturers, retailers and, ultimately, consumers.”