Vedomosti reports that farmers this season are reducing purchases of complex fertilizers in favor of simpler ones, one of the reasons for this is their difficult financial condition.
According to the Ministry of Agriculture, the plan for the purchase of fertilizers, which it developed a year ago together with the Ministry of Industry and Trade, has been generally implemented.
But this can be said only if you look at the average values. Upon closer examination, it becomes clear that purchases of simple fertilizers, such as ammonium nitrate, increased by 114%.
At the same time, the volume of purchases of complex fertilizers, such as azophoska, ammophos, diammophos, urea-ammonia mixture, amounted to no more than 80% of the plan.
At the same time, the plan has almost expired, from June 1, 2023, the plan will begin to operate for the next season 2023-2024. Therefore, there are risks that the same trend will continue next year.
What do farmers say?
They have different points of view on this issue.
For example, a representative of the Irkutsk region noted that farmers really have financial difficulties, for this reason they have to choose simpler fertilizers, since they are cheaper.
After all, last year’s big harvest created no less serious difficulties for farmers: due to falling prices, sanctions and export duties, margins sank.
At the same time, the representative of the Krasnodar Territory states that the purchase of fertilizers is carried out according to the schedule, this year it was decided not to change the list of fertilizers used.
At the same time, it was decided to change the structure of crops grown, reducing the shares of wheat and rapeseed.
What do fertilizer manufacturers think?
The Russian Association of Fertilizer Producers (RAPU) noted that they did not observe any special problems.
This year, despite the fact that it is only May so far, farmers have already purchased up to 60% of the total volume of fertilizers.
At the same time, spring sowing was provided with them to the fullest extent, and simple nitrogen fertilizers are traditionally applied in spring.
The difficult time will come in the fall, after the harvest has already been harvested. Therefore, there is nothing wrong with the fact that in the first half of the year, agricultural producers focused on the purchase of simple fertilizers.
The RAPU also noted that the domestic market is a priority for manufacturers, and no shortage is expected.
At the same time, they warned that in the summer, due to the large passenger traffic, there may be difficulties in transporting fertilizers along Russian Railways, so it makes sense to worry about purchasing everything you need in advance.
