HANNOVER/GÖTTINGEN (dpa-AFX) - Agriculture will continue to have to live with high fertilizer costs this year. He expects the same difficulties with fertilizer supply as with gas supply, Christian Janze of consulting firm Ernst & Young (EY) said Thursday at the presentation of the Economic Barometer Agribusiness in Germany 2023, which was prepared together with the University of Göttingen.

Janze pointed out that Russia and China are the two largest producers of fertilizers. Russian exports have been significantly curtailed due to Western sanctions, he said. In the case of China, Western buyers also assumed more difficult trade processes. The war in Ukraine shows how fragile and dependent agricultural production in this country is in certain areas, he said. The question is how much an independent agricultural business is worth to consumers and society as a whole.

According to experts, producers will continue to face further cost increases in 2023, but it will be difficult for them to pass these on to consumers, who will tend to turn to cheaper products in view of high inflation. The study found that this would increase the pressure on many farms in the agricultural sector.

Despite all the adversities, the German food industry achieved a record export volume of 75 billion euros last year, which corresponds to 38.6 percent of total sales of 194.5 billion euros. The number of companies had declined from 6152 in 2021 to 6074 last year, he said. The number of employees, on the other hand, grew by about 7700 to 646 497 men and women. He also said that the total turnover of the agricultural sector, which includes agricultural machinery, increased by 12.2 percent to 279 billion euros - making it the second strongest manufacturing sector in Germany./eks/DP/nas