Calum Findlay, Gleadell’s Fertiliser Manager, comments on the fertiliser markets

Urea

The global market is quiet with most positions for Q2/3 taken, easing demand.  Granular prices for spot trades are holding for both Egyptian and Russian product.

In the UK urea is trading at similar levels to last week with some late buying activity for top-up tonnes. The UK forward market remains active with some prices reported at $100/t below Egyptian replacement values. That suggests the market needs a seriously big correction and international traders are now asking if the speculation has been overdone.

Ammonium nitrate

The ammonium nitrate market remains relatively quiet but as most farmers now start main applications on cereals the top-up market is all set to continue.

Imported product is still trading at similar levels to the past few weeks as is UK domestic product, which remains at a premium. With demand from the grassland sector still to surface prices are expected to remain settled for a few weeks yet. It is not known when forward prices will be posted, but the new campaign has probably been pushed backwards to late May/June.

Phosphate

After a surge in demand a few weeks ago we saw phosphate prices firm in the UK. Today as demand shelves off, DAP/TSP prices have corrected slightly. This change has reflected on PK/NPK grades this week, which are now also slightly cheaper.

Potash

Potash supply remains extremely tight in the UK which is supporting prices. Throughout February/ March we saw an extremely busy period due to late buying and the significantly increased tonnage required for delivery as soon as possible. Logistically this was very difficult and many blenders struggled to execute all deliveries in the correct delivery period. We hope this problem is now coming to a close and that suppliers catch up on deliveries over the next few weeks.