Fine Gael is calling for a drop in the price of fertiliser for farmers following a fall in oil and gas prices for consumers.

TD For Meath East, Helen McEntee, said she will be raising the matter with the Competition Commission.

She said: "The cost of crude oil has fallen by more than 45% since June 2014, with gas prices dropping in a similar way. The Market Observatory for Energy has stated that while natural gas prices are not seeing the radical falls that oil is experiencing, there has been a significant fall from an average of €25 Megawatt hour to around €20 Megawatt hour since the beginning of December. Despite this a 7% increase in fertiliser prices is anticipated in 2015.

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"Fertiliser prices traditionally correlate with gas prices but at this stage it seems clear that this will not be the case in 2015. The EU Commissioner for Agriculture, Phil Hogan has expressed his intention to highlight this anomaly in Europe, but I believe that we need to also look at this issue on a national level.

"It is not acceptable that suppliers should be in a position to drive prices up, when the cost of producing fertiliser is dropping. Farmers must deal with variations in prices for produce and they are forever at the mercy of Mother Nature. They should not, however, be at the mercy of profitable suppliers trying to further increase their margins."

(CD/MH)