Fuel excise relief has been extended temporarily as urea and diesel prices track downwards following last week’s announcement of a peace deal between the US and Iran.

As shipping through the Hormuz Strait seems to be resuming in fits and starts, the Albanese Government on Sunday announced an extension of fuel excise relief to the end of July, making petrol and diesel 16 cents per litre cheaper versus normal prices. The government has also reduced the Heavy Vehicle Road User Charge by 16 cents for the same period to help truckies.

Urea prices have dropped as much as 28 per cent in two weeks, to hit lows of $970 a tonne just as farmers prepare for top dressing.

Urea was trading between $1180 and $1350 a tonne free carrier Geelong earlier this month, and has since fallen to between $970 to $1180, after the sky-high prices experienced earlier this year.

The GrainGrowers fertiliser report shows the federal government had underwritten 98,500 tonnes of urea under its $7.5bn Fuel and Fertiliser Security Facility, after Australia’s imports fell 13 per cent to 1.07 million tonnes in the January-April period, with three vessels from Southeast Asia inbound.

Rupanyup farmer Andrew Weidemann said the rain and falling urea prices were welcome, but the picture was complicated.

“We are fortunate that the rain has arrived in a timely fashion and urea is starting to come back,” he said.

Mr Weidemann said he had heard of quotes at $970 a tonne but there was no uniformity, with plenty of “expensive stock” that had been sourced by suppliers at higher prices.

However, he said the price decrease came at an ideal time when farmers were in the middle of top-dressing crops after recent rain.

“Some of the farms have had more than 300mm for the year,” he said.