Grassland Agro managing director Liam Woulfe has confirmed that ammonia prices are 2.5 times stronger now than they were during the autumn of last year, with all other fertiliser markets having risen substantially during the same period.

The equivalent increases for CAN, urea, phosphate and potash are: 80%; 76%; 104%; and 60% respectively.

Meanwhile, the euro-dollar exchange rate has remained steady at around €1.18 to US$1.00.

Woulfe told Agriland:

But Woulfe is strongly advising farmers not to forward buy fertiliser now, for use next spring.

He said: “No one knows how the markets will perform over the coming months. It has happened before that strong markets that set the tone during the autumn, weakened considerably over the winter period that followed.

In a letter recently sent to all the company’s merchants, Grassland Agro’s group sales manager, Enda McDonald, pointed out that due to the very strong and unrelenting price increases for fertiliser nutrients, Grassland Agro now needs to implement a significant price increase across our full range of products.

He said: “Our wholesale price to the trade always reflects the average costs of the nutrients to date of each product, and so unfortunately at this stage we have no choice but to face the reality of the costs of our current basket of raw material.

Trade prices to Grassland Agro merchants now reflect the increase in market trends: CAN €315/t; urea €440/t; 27/2.5/5 €415/t; 18/6/12 €460/t; 10/10/20 €530/t; 0/10/20 €450/t; 0/7/30 €455/t; potash €450/t; and 16% Super €450.

All prices are quadpack delivered. Farmer prices will include an additional margin of between €15 to €20/t.

As the current fertiliser season moves on, Grssland Agro is confirming that further price increases can be expected across all products.

This is especially the case where CAN, urea and high nitrogen products are concerned.

According to Enda McDonald, the current replacement cost is not fully reflected in its latest pricing schedule.