Manufacturers struggle to maintain fertiliser prices

FOR their own survival, fertiliser manufacturers will be forced to maintain a price structure as best they can – unless some major restructuring or alliance happens in the industry.

As a result, the £87/t price for ammonium nitrate has now moved to £89 in accordance with the terms communicated to the merchant trade.

There is, however, plenty of AN in Europe and farmers have made it clear that they wont really be tempted to buy until they actually need their nitrogen. As a result, business is quiet.

Imported AN in the east is reputedly now offered at £72-73/t on-farm, and significant trade is being done in granular urea at £93-95/t which is placing pressure on domestic prices.

Larger farmers are “bidding” for domestic AN at prices below £87-89/t and speculation continues concerning the degree to which merchants are prepared to go out on a limb to pick up these bids, unsupported by the manufacturer.

Although the autumn PK market remains quiet, with merchants anticipating customers taking a significant PK :holiday”, a cargo of imported 0.26.26 is being offered on-farm at about £120/t bagged and delivered, which has eased the 0.24.24 price to £117-118/t.

Imported CAN is on offer in Northern Ireland on-farm at £85/t, and the domestic CAN price is about £82-90/t.

With 25.5.5 apparently in short supply in the Province, 27.5.5. is offered as an alternative at about £114-116/t with 27.6.6 dropping to £124/t to compete.

In the Irish Republic, prices generally have fallen by approximately IR£3/t.

The entire market, however, remains quiet.

CURRENT MARKETS