Fertilisers, cost alert on urea: 'Bread, pasta and rice at risk'

Where war and geopolitical tensions do not reach, the European regulatory framework arrives. There is alarm in the fertiliser sector above all because of tensions in the Strait of Hormuz through which approximately one third of the world's fertiliser production passes. Their failure to reach the markets is setting prices on fire. Urea, one of the most widely used fertilisers (largely produced in the Middle East), saw prices jump 80% in April compared to April '24.

An escalation that risks hitting the main spring and summer crops. At risk are cereals: maize, soft and durum wheat and rice. The extra costs due to fertilisers will most likely be passed on in the final price of products such as pasta, bread and rice.

As if this complex scenario were not enough, here on the horizon is the new threat of a ban on urea in Italy as of 1 January 2028. The impact of the ban, however, could be cushioned by an amendment to the Ddl Coltiva Italia, under discussion in the Chamber of Deputies. "A regulation," emphasise Assofertilizzanti (the Association of Fertiliser Manufacturers that is part of Federchimica), "which, if approved, will allow farmers to resort to innovative urea-based products, but capable of meeting emission reduction obligations".

The ban stems from the objectives of the EU's Air Quality Directive (2881 of 2024), which envisages in various sectors, including agriculture, a stop to practices that produce climate-changing emissions. And in agriculture, one of the main suspects is urea, despite the fact that its use in the fields produces just 0.1 per cent of total emissions and 1.3 per cent of emissions produced in agriculture. "Germany," they add at Assofertilizzanti, "has already banned urea, while an infringement procedure has been threatened against Italia for not having followed the directive".

Assofertilizzanti - which organised an event on the subject in Rome - commissioned Nomisma to carry out an economic impact assessment of possible alternatives. "Urea," explained Ersilia Di Tullio of Nomisma, "represents 16% of the total fertiliser but brings 44% of the nitrogen to crops. It is by far the most effective product. It is of crucial importance for Italian agriculture and in particular for cereal crops in the Po Valley Basin. We have analysed all possible avenues from alternative fertilisers such as ammonium nitrate and ammonium sulphate, to mitigation measures such as precision farming techniques (capable of cutting the use of technical means) or the opportunities of inhibitors, coating polymers and biostimulants (which improve the nutritional efficiency of plants)".