The European Commissioner for Agriculture has moved to downplay the possibility of the Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM) being suspended on fertiliser imports to the EU.

The CBAM is effectively a tax on imports of carbon-intensive products into the EU, including fertiliser.

The CBAM requires importers of fertiliser to pay for certificates to import the products.

However, due to high prices and lower availability of inputs as a result of the conflict in the Middle East, there are calls for the CBAM to be suspended when it comes to fertiliser.

Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine Martin Heydon is among those making such a call, saying yesterday (Monday, March 30) before a meeting of EU agriculture ministers: "The [CBAM] risks the addition of a further layer of fertiliser cost inflation, which is why Ireland supports the provision of a mechanism to temporarily suspend the application of CBAM to fertiliser, and for this to be done in the most expeditious manner possible.”

However, European Commissioner for Agriculture Christophe Hansen, who also spoke at the meeting, seemed to pour cold water on the idea.

The commissioner told EU agriculture ministers: "Suspending the application of CBAM on fertilisers, should there be a legal basis for this in the future, risks worsening the dependency on imports, and therefore we must be very careful on this issue".

The commissioner also confirmed that he would be meeting stakeholders in the EU fertiliser sector on April 13 with a view to developing the fertiliser action plan for the EU that was announced earlier in March.

Speaking at a press conference after yesterday's meeting, Commissioner Hansen outlined some of the measures the commission has already taken on fertiliser availability, including suspending tariffs on certain fertilisers from countries other than Russian and Belarus, and reducing the default mark-up on the value of fertiliser imports under CBAM.

The commissioner said: "The commission is working hard on an upcoming fertiliser action plan for later this spring, and in that context I'm convening an urgent high level meeting on April 13 with the stakeholders.

He said that the focus of the plan will be on "short and long term structural measures", and supporting EU production of fertilisers to reduce the EU's dependency, "but also to support farmers to use fertilisers more efficiently, and substitute mineral fertilisers with biobased fertilisers and low carbon ones".