Cautious customers keep fertiliser business quiet

By Roger Chesher

DOMESTIC ammonium nitrate is now on November pricing, and stands at 122/t delivered on-farm. Compound prices have been adjusted upwards by 2.00/t.

But still the market is quiet, with grassland farmers in particular either not tempted to “save” on the spring price or physically unable to store fertiliser.

And with farmyards flooded, who is going to worry about buying fertiliser just now?

With prices still on the up, it has come as a surprise to UK importers to learn that the European Commission has been asked to investigate a claim of unfair dumping of urea into European markets.

Ten countries are involved, mainly from Eastern Europe and Africa, but much process will be gone through before anything happens, if at all.

The Commission will investigate the claim, seeking evidence widely as it does so.

If a case is found then the Commission will recommend measures which must be approved by ministers before any action, such as duties, is imposed.

It doesnt seem to make much sense to UK farmers, whose urea is not perceived as cheap at present, but we must remember that local cases are no longer investigated and this one is on the basis of Europe as a whole.

For those farmers with views relevant to the investigation, nows the time to make them known.

One further complication brought about by the weather is the degree of leaching of both nitrogen and potash.

The measurement of both nutrients, while improving, is still somewhat inexact and it will be hard to quantify precisely how much has washed away.

The potash industry in particular is expressing alarm at rapidly lowering soil reserves and the impact this will have on nitrogen efficiency.

IRELAND