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LUXEMBOURG — It’s not just your heating bill that risks going up thanks to Europe’s energy crisis; EU ministers are now warning that the power price surge means your food will be more expensive in the coming months too.
At a meeting of European farm ministers in Luxembourg on Monday and Tuesday, there was consensus that the sky-high price of natural gas is ramping up the cost of fertilizers, and that this increase is likely to land squarely on consumers’ plates. Natural gas is the key feedstock for the production of some of the most common artificial fertilizers, such as urea and ammonium nitrate, which farmers rely on to keep up Europe’s crop yields.
“The increase of energy prices: This is the main reason for the increase in fertilizer prices, and of course it can impact food prices in the future, of course this is the risk,” EU Agriculture Commissioner Janusz Wojciechowski said on Monday during the EU Council meeting, where ministers from the 27 member countries gathered.
EU farm ministers discussed a document circulated by the Polish government — obtained by POLITICO — which predicted that the fertilizer crisis will trigger “social unrest” across the entire European Union unless policymakers halt the soaring cost of natural gas. Warsaw blamed its traditional enemy Russia for the price surge, alleging the export giant Gazprom was restricting supply. (The Russian company says it’s fulfilling the terms of its export contracts with EU countries.)
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