The European Commission should speed up the pace of short-term measures to help farmers overcome the fertiliser crisis, said the heads of the EU’s agricultural co-operatives and organisations (Copa-Cogeca) on the sidelines of a farm visit to Belgium on Monday 28 November to raise awareness of the problems faced by farmers.
The price of fertiliser has tripled (to over €600/tonne), while cereal prices have risen slightly, explained Copa-Cogeca representatives and the owners of a farm near Wavre.
European farmers, especially those in the arable sector, pay €1.6 billion a year that is passed on to the fertiliser industry, according to a Copa-Cogeca representative. He recalled that the European market was protected by a system of import duties. Hence Copa-Cogeca’s request to suspend import duties on nitrogen fertilisers (ammonia and urea), which would have an effect on prices and fertiliser availability. Another request is to extend the suspension of import duties to all nitrogen and phosphate fertilisers. Copa-Cogeca says it does not understand why the Commission refuses this request.
Copa-Cogeca is also calling for measures to “smooth the operation of the fertiliser supply chain” and provide regulatory flexibilities. This includes a suspension of the implementation of the cadmium limit of 60 mg/kg for phosphate fertilisers, to allow deliveries from North African countries (Morocco) instead of Russia, as well as a derogation from the limits set out in the ‘Nitrates Directive’ and the facilitation of administrative rules for imports.
In addition, Copa-Cogeca calls on the Commission to act quickly to allow the use of RENURE material (nitrogen recovered from livestock manure). Copa-Cogeca, like several EU agriculture ministers, wants to see derogations for these products “in the coming years” (see EUROPE 13067/2). (Original version in French by Lionel Changeur)