Price cuts on chemical fertiliser have yet to materialise, despite the cost of natural gas, which is a key component in fertiliser manufacturing, being on the slide since September 2022.

The latest European gas prices are the lowest seen for well over a year.

Despite that, quotes for CAN are holding firm around £640 to £650/t, with urea available for purchase around £740/t. Compounds such as 25-5-5 are trading in the region of £720 to £730/t this week.

Trends

Local merchants maintain that prices should be trending downward on the back of lower gas prices, but this is beyond their control, and lies firmly in the hands of the main fertiliser companies.

A number of merchants spoken to by the Irish Farmers Journal suggested that manufacturers are controlling the quantity of product released on to the market in order to protect their own profit margins.

However, the general outlook is that there will be some level of price correction applied later this spring.

As a result, there is a general reluctance to stockpile fertiliser in case they are left with overpriced supplies.

The advice to farmers is only to buy what you need for spring grazing and first-cut silage.

Correction

Any price correction later in the season is still expected to be relatively modest, with the general consensus being that nitrogen is unlikely to return to the price levels seen prior to the Ukraine war.

Since the start of the year, fertiliser sales are down on previous years but this can be partly attributed to a surge in purchases by farmers last autumn.

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