The Ukrainian Agribusiness Club (UCAB) has called on the government and parliament to urgently address the situation on the fertilizer market ahead of the spring sowing campaign, ProAgro Group reports.

According to the association, farmers are facing increasing pressure due to disrupted supply of nitrogen fertilizers, rising diesel fuel prices, and higher gas costs. The situation has been further aggravated by developments in the Middle East, which have affected energy markets.

As a result, fertilizer costs have increased by an average of 27–29%: ammonium nitrate prices rose by 37%, urea by 43%, and UAN by 54%. At the same time, domestic production of ammonium nitrate has nearly halved, leading to a shortage estimated at around 190,000 tonnes.

In addition, fuel prices have surged by more than 22% over the past month, increasing production and logistics costs. Altogether, these factors could raise the cost of the sowing campaign by about 10% and reduce crop yields by 15–20%.

UCAB warns that economic losses could be significant, including a drop in export revenues by $4–5 billion and budget losses of up to UAH 45 billion.

To stabilize the situation, the association proposes temporarily abolishing import duties on nitrogen fertilizers, introducing reduced excise rates on diesel fuel for agriculture, and simplifying the import of certain fertilizer types.

Earlier, it was reported that farmers currently lack sufficient nitrogen fertilizers for the sowing campaign, with ammonium nitrate shortages estimated at 150–170 thousand tonnes.