You could say that the final steps are the heaviest if you look at the price formation of the fertilizer market. DCA's manure quotations also increase in the last week of the spreading season. A lot of manure has been sold, but the supply remains high and oppressive. We face the winter months with these concerns.
With the end of the spreading season in sight, it is time to take stock again. In recent weeks, unlike spring, there have been favorable conditions for spreading manure and a considerable volume has still been deposited. Contractors and manure intermediaries indicated last week that the crowds are over and most of the installation space has been used.
However, that does not alter the pressure on the fertilizer market. Although the sky-high pressure has decreased somewhat, several manure storage facilities are not completely empty. Sometimes it concerns leftovers, other times it concerns a larger volume. But there are clear differences in sales, manure transporters indicate. One has deposited considerably less manure this season and had a quieter time than in other years, while the other has applied more manure. According to insiders, it is difficult to estimate what percentage or volume is hanging over the market - and for that it is still on the early side - but the fact is that in total less has been released than usual.
Entrepreneurial choice
The fact that less has been driven than in other years is also evident from the response of the Ministry of Agriculture, Nature and Food (LNV) to the letter from the trade organization Cumela. In this letter they exposed the hectic situation in the fertilizer sector and suggested possible solutions to give the sector a helping hand. LNV gave a formal answer to this - more than two months later - and does not want to go along with the solutions proposed. LNV indicates that based on data on manure transport this spring, the amount of manure sold this spring is lower, but not exceptionally lower than in other years. In addition, the ministry calls it 'an entrepreneurial choice' by the livestock farmer to 'make no or insufficient facilities for the disposal of manure prior to the start of a season'. "The higher costs for the disposal of manure are therefore a business risk," can be read in the formal response that Cumela only received on September 9.
According to Cumela, the only limited lower manure sales are 'at odds with practical experiences' and the organization wonders which sales figures and which periods the ministry has compared, says Manon Jansen, Manure Section Secretary at Cumela, in a response to the website. of the trade association. The ministry also sees no point in increasing the nitrogen user standard. "This solution only makes a very limited contribution to eliminating the surplus," the formal response reads.
Prices continue to rise
Now that the last days of the spreading season are almost over, fertilizer prices are rising further due to the depressed supply. DCA's manure collection contributions this week show the same trend as previous weeks, namely slightly increasing for both cattle and pig slurry. For example, the collection contribution for fattening pig slurry in the South region is on average €25 per tonne this week. Cattle slurry in the same region averages €22,50 per tonne.
But the spread is large just before the end of the spreading season. Those who were unable to find a market or postponed making appointments for their manure will in some cases have to pay a lot for the last bit of space left. For example, fattening pig slurry is sometimes paid at €30 per tonne. The price for cattle slurry is slightly lower.