Price quotes for chemical fertiliser are holding steady across NI as merchants continue to face challenges with supply.

CAN is generally trading between £770/t and £790/t, while quotes for urea are running around £100/t above this level.

Stocks of grassland compounds such as 27-4-4 or 25-5-5 are limited, and prices are harder to come by. But when available, quotes are running from £840/t to £870/t.

High P and K products used for winter planting arable crops, such as 16-16-16, are costing in the region of £870/t.

Gas

There have been some forecasts that fertiliser quotes may ease on the back of lower gas prices, a key component in fertiliser manufacturing. However, natural gas prices are still on a par with levels recorded in early summer and energy markets remains extremely volatile.

There is also a significant time lag from the point gas is purchased until fertiliser is ready to ship to customers, with some estimates of three to four months in a normal functioning supply chain. Manufacturing capacity within Europe has also contracted by 70% and although there are moves to resume production, sources within the trade state the availability of fertiliser is unlikely to improve in the short to medium term.

Diesel

Meanwhile, quotes for red diesel have eased since the middle of October, helped by a fall in the price of crude oil and a recovery in sterling against the US dollar.

Quotes for an order of 2,250 litres of red diesel midweek were in the region of 116p/l, excluding VAT, down from 118p/l to 124p/l just over two weeks ago.

Twelve months ago, red diesel was typically 74p/l.

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