Fertiliser at a price – if you can get it

World demand is outstripping supply and farmers are being advised not only to make sure they have ordered what they need, but to take delivery and make sure they have it.

"This coming season, the most likely situation is a shortage,” said Yara’s England and Wales business manager Steven Chisholm.

World demand for grain production for both feed and biofuel was currently outstripping supply and that was driving the demand for fertilisers.

"All I would say is order it and get it delivered – ownership will be nine tenths of the law this spring.”

At GrowHow UK, the recently formed Kemira/Terra joint venture operation, marketing manager Ken Bowler said we were living in “unprecedented times” as far as the fertiliser market was concerned.

"We are sold forward for a few months now and are not actually offering product at the moment but we will re-issue prices when we have a better fix on the situation,” he said.

"There is very good reason this year for having a soil anlaysis done and therefore not spending money on a type of fertiliser you might not need,” he said.

Importer Gleadell said there was no end in sight to the uptrend in urea many markets were still very short of material for spring 2008.

"India still need to buy more tonnes for December and with time and product running out fast in China expect this bull run to continue well in to 2008,” said a spokesman.

And while UK farmers might be cringing at current prices, they were even higher in some markets and ammonium nitrate for example was not arriving in any volumes as vessels went elsewhere to more lucrative destinations than the UK.

Have your say

Please do not complete the following form field for security reasons.

Name

E-mail

Comment