Suppliers determined to hold nitrogen price

THE flurry of interest in nitrogen last week has slowed down again as farmers devote their attention to harvest.

The prices resulting from the coming-together of merchant and distributor at about £85/t delivered for UK nitrogen has not been eroded, and merchant deals below that level will “definitely not be supported.”

Indeed, the terms for August and September currently on offer to merchants will put nitrogen on farm at £89-90t.

This determination to maintain prices has resulted in a pre-harvest market which some estimate may be 40% down on last year in volume.

Meanwhile, the recently reported import of 0.26.26 has placed pressure on the price for domestic blended 0.24.24 which is now about £114-115/t.

Liquid fertiliser users are sometimes said to be somewhat isolated from the cut and thrust of commercial trading in bagged material.

This is partly so for compound users, where products contain different materials with different agronomic attributes, but the price for liquid nitrogen is just as keen as the solid counterpart.

Liquid users account for 500,000 tonnes of the UK;s five million-tonne market (10%), but the material tends not to go on to farm until nearer the usage period, so the current price about £95 for 100,000 litres is to some extent arbitrary.

100 litres of liquid N contains 37kg of N which, taking into account the specific gravity of the liquid, usually about 1.25g/l, means one tonne of liquid with 29.6% nitrogen will cost £76.

In terms of price per unit of nitrogen, therefore theres currently very little in it.

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