Fianna Fáil MEP Billy Kelleher has called for short-term fertilizer exemption from the Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM).
The CBAM, which came into effect on January 1, is essentially a tax on imports of carbon-intensive products into the EU.
MEP Kelleher said there should be an exception for fertilisers.
He said any other legislation must also be prevented from “adversely impacting fertilizer availability and prices if we are to slow food price inflation.”
Fertilizer business plan
The Member of the European Parliament for Southern Ireland submitted the request to the European Commission during the discussion of the new project Fertilizer business planWhich was unveiled yesterday (Tuesday, May 19).
“Fertilizer prices have risen dramatically over the past four years and have been made worse by the increase in the price of fossil fuels needed to produce fertilizer,” Kelleher said.
“Fertilizer prices in Ireland have risen by about 20% for urea and about 60% for urea since the outbreak of hostilities in the Middle East.
“This rise in input costs for farmers is causing food price inflation to rise, putting further pressure on hard-pressed Irish households.”
He said that Europe does not produce enough of its own fertilizers, so we are required to import them from abroad.
“Here is the problem with CBAM. Under the current regulation, CBAM is applied to fertilizer imports which will lead to an increase in cost. This cannot be allowed to happen,” the MEP continued.
“Two weeks ago, I, together with my Fianna Fail colleagues, introduced an amendment to the dossier dealing with extending the scope of CBAM to include final goods and anti-fraud measures to remind everyone that the ability to remove fertilizers from CBAM due to distortions in the internal market is available under Article 27A.”
Food security
Europe faces “one of the most serious food security challenges of modern times” unless urgent action is taken to reduce the high cost of fertilizer and fuel for farmers, MEP Ciaran Mullooly has warned.
Midlands-North West European Parliament Ciaran Mullooly
Farmers across Ireland face a “harsh economic reality, as the cost of fertiliser, fuel, gas and oil makes crop production increasingly unsustainable”, Mr Mullooly said.
“Farmers in Ireland have told me clearly that the economics of growing crops simply aren’t working right now,” Mullooly said.
“If farmers cannot afford fertilizers and fuel, food production will inevitably decline and food security will be at risk.
“That is why the European Union must act immediately.”
Breed on many farms
Sinn Féin MEP for Southern Ireland Kathleen Funchion has condemned the committee’s fertilizer action plan on the grounds that the proposals are “too abstract and do little to give concrete figures and timetables to struggling farmers”.
Sinn Féin MEP Kathleen Funchion
The member of the European Parliament said: “The American war in the Middle East has entered its twelfth week, and the Commission is now presenting a fertilizer action plan.”
“In that time, fertilizer prices have risen by 40%, contributing to a 70% increase since 2024.
“It was difficult for farmers to absorb these increases, and there is no doubt that they put pressure on many farms, large and small.”
She said the overall outcome of the plan was “unlikely to be sufficient” to avoid food price inflation, and would “reduce farm income in the latter half of the year”.
“The plan is very abstract, as it does not provide concrete numbers to support farmers or set a timetable for ‘mobilizing the EU budget’ as it has pledged to do,” Funchion said.
She said the Irish government must act.
“(It must) quickly implement the support identified by the Commission and link it to an ambitious plan to support government aid to farmers to reduce fertilizer costs,” Funchion said.
