It continues to run and stand still this riding season. The pressure is still not off and the question is whether that will happen. There is certainly no price drop. In fact, DCA's slurry quotes are slightly up this week.
Last week manure was finally spread under relatively good conditions, but now the weather is once again the big spoilsport. This is typical of the entire spreading season so far. We have now passed the time for using drag hoses in wheat. In terms of activity, it was disappointing, according to contractors and intermediaries. Where it did happen, large tracks were occasionally left. Time is also running out to spread manure on potato and corn fields. It is very wet, especially on the heavier clay soils, and arable farmers will want to get started as quickly as possible given the calendar.
Small price increase
All in all, quite a few volumes of manure have been spread, but compared to other years it is meager. In addition, the manure supply at the beginning of the spreading season was already more than normal. With the course of this erratic spreading season, this is still putting pressure on at the end of April. Some intermediaries indicate that it is already difficult to handle the volumes of regular customers this season. Others have not been taking on new customers for a long time. Even now that some space has become available in the silos in recent weeks, they remain cautious with new agreements.
In the current situation in the fertilizer market, a price drop is not obvious. Fertilizer traders and contractors indicate that they want to keep prices the same, but circumstances force them to increase them occasionally. This is due to the limited supply. This is also evident from DCA's fertilizer quotations. Cattle and pig slurry prices have been stable for weeks and occasionally - depending on the region - even increase slightly. This is also the case this week for both cattle and pig slurry. A price drop this shipping season therefore seems very far away.