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The nitrogen content of mineral fertilisers sold in the 2025 crop year (October 2024 to September 2025) was 349,293 tonnes, 13% higher than the 2024 crop year (October 2023 to September 2024).
The phosphorus content of mineral fertilisers sold in the 2025 crop year was up 13% on the 2024 crop year, at 32,556 tonnes.
Between the 2017 and 2025 crop years, the stabilised urea fertiliser share of total nitrogen content in mineral fertiliser sales rose from 0.5% to 15%. The use of stabilised urea fertilisers in place of fertilisers that do not contain stabilised urea can reduce air pollutant and greenhouse gas emissions.
Total mineral fertiliser sales rose by 15% in the 2025 crop year to 1.4 million tonnes.
In the 2025 crop year, 84% of mineral fertiliser sales took place in the six months between January and June 2025.
Imports of mineral fertilisers rose 22% to 1.7 million tonnes in calendar year 2025.
Lime sales were 0.9 million tonnes in calendar year 2025, down 9% when compared with 2024.
The crop year runs from the beginning of October each year until the end of September the following year. In this release, data on fertiliser sales are presented for the crop year, while data on fertiliser imports and exports, as well as data on lime sales, refer to the calendar year.
The nitrogen content of fertilisers sold in Ireland was at its highest of the period between the 2000 and 2025 crop years in the 2018 crop year at 408,495 tonnes. In the 2023 crop year there were 280,569 tonnes of nitrogen in fertilisers sold in Ireland, the lowest level of the period. An 11% increase and a further 13% rise in the following two crop years brought the nitrogen content of fertilisers to 349,293 tonnes in the 2025 crop year (See Figure 1 and Table 1).
Phosphorus content was at its highest level of the period in the 2000 crop year at 49,267 tonnes and was lowest in the 2009 crop year at 20,231 tonnes. In the 2025 crop year, a 13% increase on the previous crop year saw 32,556 tonnes of phosphorus in fertilisers sold in Ireland.
There were 100,501 tonnes of potassium in fertilisers sold in Ireland in the 2025 crop year.
Stabilised urea fertilisers, also known as protected or inhibited urea fertilisers, can reduce emissions of ammonia (an air pollutant) and emissions of nitrous oxide (a greenhouse gas) when used instead of ordinary urea or calcium ammonium nitrate fertilisers, helping to reduce the environmental impacts of fertiliser use.
In the 2017 crop year, the nitrogen content of stabilised urea fertiliser sales was 1,792 tonnes, or a 0.5% share of the nitrogen content in total fertiliser sales. After rising each crop year from 2018 to 2024, the nitrogen content of stabilised urea fertiliser sales was at its highest level of the period in the 2024 crop year at 56,384 tonnes, which made up 18% of the nitrogen in total fertiliser sales. In the 2025 crop year, the nitrogen content of stabilised urea fertiliser sales was 51,612 tonnes, equivalent to a 15% share of the nitrogen content in total fertiliser sales (See Figure 2).
Between the 2017 and 2025 crop years, the nitrogen content of stabilised urea fertiliser sales rose by around 50,000 tonnes, while the nitrogen content of other fertiliser sales fell by around 70,000 tonnes (See Table 2).
After dropping 18% in the 2022 and 2023 crop years, fertiliser sales in Ireland reached their lowest level of the period between the 2000 and 2025 crop years in the 2023 crop year at 1.1 million tonnes. A rise of 8% in the 2024 crop year and a further rise of 15% the following crop year brought fertiliser sales to 1.4 million tonnes in the 2025 crop year (See Figure 3 and Table 3). The reductions in fertiliser sales in the 2022 and 2023 crop years may have been related to higher fertiliser prices relative to previous years. Fertiliser sales remained lower in the 2025 crop year than the 1.7 million tonnes sold in the 2021 crop year, prior to the increase in prices.
In the 2025 crop year, just 1% of fertiliser sales took place between October and December 2024, 48% of sales took place between January and March 2025, 36% were in April to June 2025 and 15% of fertiliser sales occurred between July and September 2025 (See Figure 4 and Table 4).
Figure 5 and Table 5 show data on mineral fertiliser imports and exports for the period 2016 to 2025. Imports were highest in 2018 at 1.8 million tonnes. They fell to 1.1 million tonnes in 2023, a 24% drop on 2022 and the lowest level of the ten-year period. In 2024, fertiliser imports rose 24% to 1.4 million tonnes and in 2025, they increased again by 22% to 1.7 million tonnes.
Exports of mineral fertilisers are much lower than imports, with 60,099 tonnes exported in 2025.
Lime is a soil conditioner which is used to regulate the acidity of soil. Applying lime to soil leads to carbon dioxide emissions due to the carbon content of the lime. However, as soil acidity is a factor in fertiliser efficiency, applying lime to soil can reduce requirements for nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium fertilisers. This can result in a reduction in pollution, including a reduction in greenhouse gas emissions arising from nitrogen-containing fertilisers.
Lime sales were at their highest of the period from 2000 to 2025 in 2022 at 1.4 million tonnes. This was an increase of 4% on 2021, which in turn had shown an increase of 50% on 2020. In 2023 lime sales fell 27% to 1.0 million tonnes. They remained at 1.0 million tonnes in 2024 before falling by 9% to 0.9 million tonnes in 2025 (See Figure 6 and Table 6).
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Statistician's Comment
The Central Statistics Office (CSO) has today (17 April 2026) published Fertiliser Sales 2025.
Commenting on the release, Clare O'Hara, Statistician in the Environment Division, said: "This release contains data on mineral fertiliser sales and their nutrient content by crop year from 2000 to 2025. Fertilisers are added to soil to provide crops with nutrients such as nitrogen and phosphorus. These nutrients enhance crop production but can also be lost from agricultural soil to groundwater, surface water, and air, contributing to environmental pollution.
In the 2025 crop year, total mineral fertiliser sales rose by 15% to 1.4 million tonnes. This followed a rise of 8% in the 2024 crop year, after decreases of 18% in each of the previous two crop years. Nitrogen content was up 13% in the 2025 crop year at 349,293 tonnes, while phosphorus content was also up 13% to 32,556 tonnes.
The use of stabilised urea fertilisers in place of fertilisers that do not contain stabilised urea can reduce air pollutant and greenhouse gas emissions. Between the 2017 and 2025 crop years, the stabilised urea fertiliser share of total nitrogen content in mineral fertiliser sales rose from 0.5% to 15%. The nitrogen content of stabilised urea fertiliser sales was up by around 50,000 tonnes over this period, while the nitrogen content of other fertiliser sales was down by around 70,000 tonnes.
Quarterly sales data may give an indication of the time of year of greatest fertiliser use. For each crop year from 2016 to 2025, at least 75% of mineral fertiliser sales took place between January and June. In the 2025 crop year, 48% of mineral fertiliser sales took place in January to March 2025 while 36% were in April to June 2025. Loss of nutrients to the environment is affected by the amount of rainfall at the time of fertiliser application.
This release also contains data on imports and exports of mineral fertilisers by calendar year for the period 2016 to 2025. Imports were highest in 2018 at 1.8 million tonnes. Decreases in 2021, 2022, and 2023 saw imports fall to their lowest level in 2023 at 1.1 million tonnes. A rise of 24% in 2024 and 22% in 2025 brought the volume of mineral fertiliser imports to 1.7 million tonnes in 2025.
Lime sales were 0.9 million tonnes in 2025, down 9% on 2024. While applying lime to soil leads to carbon dioxide emissions from the carbon content of the lime, it can reduce requirements for nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium fertilisers, resulting in an overall reduction in greenhouse gas emissions."