UREA

With the Urea market falling over the past week globally, scepticism on it continuing to fall has been the talk amongst traders and farmers. 

With no single event apparent to trigger this correction, all evidence from global trades this week suggests that the price will rise again once we enter the New Year. With up to 40% left to be bought in the UK, this equates to nearly 800,000mt required between January and March. This amount of nitrogen will need delivering and, logistically in the UK, this may cause some problems if buyers do not start to take orders in December.

In France, prices for nitrogen have seen the opposite to the UK with a €5 increase being seen this week.  This is usually a clue of what to expect in the UK market in the coming weeks and supports the view that the market may soon turn bullish once again.

POTASH

Demand is likely to pick up in the New Year when inventory levels in the US and Brazil deplete. UK traders expect demand to pick up in early January when buyers begin to restock the warehouses.

SULPHUR

The sulphur market has picked up globally this week, with increased demand being seen in China stimulated by increased spot inquiries following the new announcement of the fertiliser export tax policy for 2012.