Posted
Update
Article written by
/2021/12/14/61b8b9accb57c_france-3.png)
The international community continues its policy of suffocating the Russian economy. This strategy is already having consequences for agriculture: the price of fertilizer, made with gas, is soaring. While prices were already reaching records, the sector is totally destabilized.
To produce wheat, a cooperative in Saint-Pierre de Juillers (Charente-Maritime) uses up to 300 kg of fertilizer per hectare. Its price keeps rising. “It sells[ait] around 180 euros per ton last year, this year it’s around 220 euros”, says Romain Bocquet, agricultural technician. Fertilizer is increasing especially because of the war in Ukraine. It takes gas to produce it, often Russian. “We are on the irrational today. Everything is linked to the news, it is above all necessary to follow the conflict live to see the repercussions on raw materials”explains Denis Riffaud, the director of the agricultural cooperative.
In Harfleur (Seine-Maritime), in a factory, natural gas arrives by pipeline. With the war, its price reached new heights. “Over the last 12 months, it has appreciated by around 400 to 500%”, estimates Johan Labby, director of the Yara France site in Le Havre. However, gas represents 90% of the manufacturing cost of the factory’s fertilizer. At the Salon de l’agriculture (Paris), on the morning of Monday February 28, Raphaël Reboul, cereal producer in Grane (Drôme), is concerned, and came to inquire at the stand of his fertilizer supplier. For everyone, the next few weeks will be crucial.