Farmers were having to make difficult decisions on fertiliser purchases with both wheat and fertiliser prices high
Difficult decisions are having to be made on fertiliser purchases, with prices significantly up on last year.
And it comes as a blow to farmers looking to take advantage of the current good grain prices as their input costs climb.
Chris Haydock, AF Group fertiliser manager, said all commodities were rising.
"Phosphate has been rising since before Christmas. It is 50 per cent up on this time last year. Nitrogen is 40 per cent up on last year," he said.
He added he had never seen a year like this before.
Mr Haydock said fertiliser prices were high this year and there were question marks over whether the price would fall back at any point.
"With productions issues, etc., and high urea prices worldwide it does not feel at the moment that there is any sign of it easing."
Global
The global picture had influenced the market place with worldwide demand high.
"For urea, it is a worldwide commodity," he said.
Mr Haydock said India, China and the US were still buying, with the US starting earlier than usual putting on added pressure.
"It is going to be fascinating to see what happens next time India comes in to the market," he added.
"It is a difficult one from a farming side. They see there is a bit of an opportunity with grain prices up to make some money," he said.
He also highlighted the difficulty of making these decisions compared to last year when the price was ‘just a no-brainer'.
"There has been a mixed reaction. Some have booked it all in. Some have hedged it like they do with their grain and some have not bought any at all yet," he said.
