June 13, 2008

US to probe on skyrocketing fertilizer prices

US senator Kent Conrad, one of the primary authors of the 2008 farm bill, said current fertilizer prices are nearly three times what they were in 2000.
 

Conrad, along with fellow North Dakota senator Byron Dorgan and North Dakota representative Earl Pomeroy have written a letter to agriculture secretary Ed Schafer urging him to find out why prices for fertilizer products have risen from US$400 to US$1,000 per tonne.

 
Fertilizer prices in May were 69 percent higher on-year, while 2007 prices shot up by 158 percent from 2000 figures, according to USDA's National Agriculture Statistics Service.
 

Conrad pointed out that while some of the increase may be a result of rising petroleum costs, those factors alone do not fully explain the current escalation in fertilizer prices.
 

The officials are asking the USDA to probe into such matters as energy and transportation costs, availability of raw material and processing capacity.
 

US farmers have complained of high input costs which cut into their profit margins, saying that the diammonium phosphate or DAP, that cost them US$400 per tonne last year now costs US$1,000 per tonne.

Furthermore, prices for nitrogen fertilizer and phosphates have also increased and growers are paying nearly double what they were in 2007 for glyphosate.