Fertilisers prices witness a hike, as the Spring Season approaches in China

Agricultural material supply is at its height during the spring ploughing season.  Manufacturers and suppliers will be under strain, as demand will climb, and prices will skyrocket. The China fertiliser wholesale price composite index as on February 28, was 3120.59 points on indicating a seasonal increase.  

The cost of raw materials to produce chemical fertilisers has increased dramatically. The rising cost of raw materials such as phosphate rock, sulphur, and synthetic ammonia has been affecting phosphate fertiliser, and the price is still rising. In terms of potash fertiliser, the importers in China just signed an annual supply contract with Canada Potash Fertilizer Company. The CIF price was USD 590 per tonne, up 139% from the previous year. The market's wait-and-see attitude grew stronger after the contract price was announced, resulting in a price-maintaining mentality in the domestic market. Another factor is the rising foreign fertiliser prices driving up domestic fertiliser prices. The All-China Federation of Supply and Marketing Cooperatives demands that the entire system to strengthen agricultural material procurement and transportation, establish an emergency distribution mechanism for agricultural materials in rural areas as soon as possible.

As per ChemAnalyst, “All stakeholders are actively seeking for ways to decrease costs and ensure supply, and one of them is freight reduction. This year's features include spring ploughing, north-to-south transit, and water-land combined transportation. In the last quarter, prices for all the fertilizer shot up on the back of huge values of upstream, due to which many manufacturers increased their offers. It has been anticipated that fertilizer prices in the Chinese market are likely to increase in March and April. With China being the key exporter of majority of fertilizers, the increase in prices may affect globally.”