FARMERS can expect a period of low fertiliser prices—but then they’ll need to be thinking on their feet as the price rollercoaster starts again, according to fertiliser industry analyst Gavin O’Hanlon.
“I think we're around the bottom of the trough at the moment, and that will probably hold for a few years,” Mr O’Hanlon said.
“But where, in the past, we’ve had five-10 year cycles, what we'll see in the future are sharper peaks and shallower troughs, where prices will fluctuate much more widely than they have in the past.”
“There is now a risk associated with carryover fertiliser.
"No-one is going to be prepared to have the stock sitting in the shed at a time when growers don't want it.
"Therefore there will be a fluctuation in demand and supply.”
Mr O’Hanlon said it was time for farmers to start thinking about hedging on fertiliser, physically or otherwise, if they want to be sure the product is there when they need it.
“It just might be a little difficult to get the reliability of supply that we've had in the past,” he said.
Email a friend