A RABOBANK report flagged a possible spike in fertiliser prices this year, as suppliers ran down stocks due to weaker than expected demand from farmers in 2009.
Just before Christmas, Incitec chief executive James Fazzino told shareholders at the company's annual meeting he expected global volumes for fertiliser to improve, although he didn't predict where prices would go.
Rabobank analyst Adam Tomlinson said while a rise in agricultural commodity prices might lead to increasing demand for farm inputs and drive up prices, he did not expect them to hit 2008 highs.
On Wednesday, US fertiliser producer Mosaic said it expected shipments of potash to rise in 2010 but posted a below-consensus second-quarter profit, highlighting the continuing challenges in the global fertiliser industry.
On the same day, Monsanto, the world's largest seed producer and a Nufarm rival, reported a first-quarter loss that also missed analysts' expectations, with prices for herbicide Roundup falling.
Sales for Roundup and other glyphosate products fell nearly 90 per cent, painting a fairly bleak trading picture for Nufarm, which recently rebuffed a lower takeover offer from China's Sinochem and struck an alliance with Sumitomo Chemical.
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