Overall fertiliser sales have dropped by 7% to 337,246t compared to last year, Department of Agriculture figures reveal.

This data represents sales of fertiliser from 1 October 2023 to 31 March 2024.

When comparing figures from this period to the previous year, sales of phosphorus (P) and potassium (K) were down by 16.5% to 175,910t and 11% to 191,810t respectively.

Overall sales of nitrogen were back by 6.5%.

This drop was mostly represented by a fall in nitrogen-based compounds of almost 13% – there was a reduction of 23% in pasture sward sales.

Protected urea

There was also a significant increase in tonnes of protected urea sold this year compared to the previous year.

Sales of straight protected urea were up by over 35% for the same period last year.