Fertiliser markets “flat”

All sectors of the fertiliser market are flat at the moment, both in terms of price and volume.

Farmers are concentrating on harvest, to be followed by rapid drilling to avoid being caught in a poor weather trap like last year.

Even the PK market is slow, giving rise to speculation about the size of the PK “holiday” being taken by many farmers.

Although the consequences of occasionally missing out these nutrients could be slight on any individual farm, national sales statistics indicate that many farms may be going too far and putting yields at risk.

Nitrogen shipments are finding homes at 83/t c.i.f., that is in the ship at the dock, which translates to 100/t on farm for August. This price is expected to remain steady until October.

Gas prices are flat and nitrogen stocks are high in the USA. This means that imports will be available when the farm market picks up again.

The introduction of the domestic nitrogen price for September has been delayed, but a price rise, however modest, is still anticipated.

IRELAND