Fertiliser is available, "subject to local delivery constraints", but supply of urea-based products is limited the Minister of Agriculture, Food and the Marine has indicated.

According to Minister Martin Heydon his department has met with fertiliser importers in recent days and is continuing to monitor the situation following the impact of the current Middle East conflict on global fertiliser supplies. 

The Labour Party TD, Robert O'Donoghue, had questioned Minister Heydon on whether the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine (DAFM) has considered establishing a "national strategic fertiliser reserve".

The Labour TD for Dublin Fingal West believes this could ensure that there would be adequate supplies of fertiliser "available to farmers in Ireland in the event of global supply chain disruption".

However the minister told Deputy O'Donoghue that this would be a "costly" proposition that would also would "carry financial risks".

Minister Heydon said not only would DAFM have to take into account existing commercial fertiliser businesses in Ireland but it would result in the "necessity of holding expensive stock that degrades over time and is subject to market price fluctuations".

Fertiliser

Currently the National Fertiliser Database (NFD) import figures show fertiliser stocks "increased significantly during quarter four of 2025" according to Minister Heydon.

Calcium ammonium nitrate (CAN)imports increased by 55% and urea by 260%.

Minister Heydon said this meant that 70-80% of annual requirements have been imported to-date because the Irish fertiliser industry purchased "significant volumes of product in advance of the full introduction of the Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM)".

He said there are also indications that many farmers "forward bought fertiliser before the outbreak of the conflict in the Middle East".

Minister Heydon has highlighted that "Ireland is a relatively small market in respect of fertiliser sales and usage compared to many of our EU neighbours".

"No fertilisers are manufactured in Ireland, resulting in indigenous fertiliser companies being price-takers, dependent on global supply and demand and subject to euro exchange rates against the US dollar and other currencies," he said.

The price of CAN is estimated to have risen by around 20% since the beginning of March whilst urea has increased by as much as 60%.