Global prices for fertilizers, after reaching a peak in November-December 2021, began to decline gradually, but are still above the level of early 2021.
This is reported by ProAgro Group with reference to GrainTrade.
Thus, at the beginning of 2021, urea prices did not exceed 280 $/ton, and on November 19, they reached 934 $/ton amid a sharp rise in gas prices. However, at the auction on January 14, 2022 the prices fell to 817,5 $/ton.
Andriy Sizov, Director of Sovecon Analytical Center, thinks that the main reason for this decrease is the lower cost of gas in Europe, which became half as cheap as in November, allowing ammonia producers to increase production volumes.
While the prices for gas dropped in Europe, the Ukrainian customers expected the prices for nitrogenous fertilizers to go down, but it did not happen, so experts believe that the influence of gas price on the operational prices for fertilizers is overestimated.
At the same time, they cite the devaluation of hryvnia as one of the reasons for their rise in price. The hryvnia exchange rate directly affects the prices of imported fertilizers and raw materials for domestic chemists.
Now the prices of fertilizers in Ukraine have remained almost unchanged, while the price of urea has even increased. However, analysts explain this rise in price by the reduction of offers in the lower price corridor of products.
