New season nitrogen prices drop

New season UK ammonium nitrate is available at £250-258/t for full loads delivered to farm in June, following the release of a new price list late last week.

This reflects a drop of about £35/t on last month and provides a welcome boost for those in grassland areas. GrowHow is looking for another £3/t a month for July and August.

Although urea had firmed slightly over the past 10 days, it still provided strong competition for ammonium nitrate (AN) and looked weak for the final quarter of the year, said Calum Findlay, fertiliser manager at Gleadell.

See also: Nitrogen market pressured by urea suppliers

Lithuanian imported AN is about £240/t (full loads) and while availability has tightened, a plant currently shut down will come back into operation around the end of June, adding to the pressure.