Friday, March 29, 2024
5.5 C
Galway
HomeFarming NewsFertiliser giant cutting European output over ‘record-high’ natural gas prices
Catherina Cunnane
Catherina Cunnanehttps://www.thatsfarming.com/
Catherina Cunnane hails from a sixth-generation drystock and specialised pedigree suckler enterprise in Co. Mayo. She currently holds the positions of editor and general manager at That's Farming, having joined the firm during its start-up phase in 2015.
Reading Time: 2 minutes

Fertiliser giant cutting European output over ‘record-high’ natural gas prices

Fertiliser giant, Yara, is temporarily curtailing production at two plants: Ferrara (Italy) and Le Havre (France).

The Norwegian chemical company made the announcement earlier today (Wednesday, March 9th, 2022) in light of “record-high” natural gas prices in Europe.

According to the firm, the two plants have a combined annual capacity of 1 million tonnes of ammonia and 0.9 million tonnes of urea.

Including optimisation and maintenance at other production facilities, it expects its European ammonia and urea production to operate at approximately 45% of capacity by the end of this week.

In a statement, a spokesperson for the company, which is one of the world’s largest fertiliser makers, said:

“Yara will continue to monitor the situation and to the extent possible use its global production system to keep supplying customers and secure continuity in food supply chains, but curtailing production where necessary due to challenging market conditions.”

- Advertisement -

Read about its fossil-free fertilisers, which we reported about last month.

Petrol and diesel prices to fall

Meanwhile, petrol and diesel prices will drop at pumps from midnight tonight.

The government has confirmed a temporary reduction in the excise duties charged on petrol, diesel and marked gas oil.

Excise duty will reduce by 20 cent per litre of petrol and 15 cent per litre of diesel.

There will also be a reduction of 2 cent in the excise duty charged on marked gas oil.

These reductions will remain in place until August 31st, 2022.

These temporary reductions in excise are expected to reduce the cost of a fill of a 60-litre tank by:

  • €12 for petrol;
  • €9 for diesel.

The news comes following a Cabinet meeting earlier this morning (Wednesday, March 9th, 2022).

Minister for Finance, Paschal Donohoe TD asid excise duty is an “important” revenue stream for the government.

It collected over €5.8billion last year, with over €2bn of that coming from fuel taxes.

He said the measure he announced today would reduce this by €320million.

- Advertisment -

Most Popular