Fertilizers and pesticides down

The dry weather experienced in Germany during the first six months of 2011 had a negative affect on the sales of pesticides and fertilizers. As calculated by the GfK, the level of sales achieved by pesticides was six per cent below the result for the same period last year. Fertilizers were 8.5 per cent down. Only two product categories recorded any gains: insecticides were up by 13.3 per cent, and technical products by 10.9 per cent. On the other hand, however, the dry weather resulted in losses of 31 per cent for slug pellets and 21.2 per cent for grafting-wax. Universal garden fertilizers declined by 12.3 per cent and lawn fertilizers by 11.3 per cent.