The sales prices for liquid manure have found their way back up now that the spring work is as good as completed. The supply of both cattle and pork slurry remains extremely high after a wet spring and less placement space, while manure transporters and contractors are generally careful with the quantities they drive to the manure silos and storage facilities.
Sales hardly payable
Various manure transporters and contractors indicate that spring work is almost over in the center and north of the Netherlands. In the south the picture is different. Particularly in the southeast, where some agricultural work has been possible since last weekend after the precipitation, a lot of manure is still being spread on arable land this week. The pressure on the fertilizer market also appears to be highest in that region. A manure transporter indicated last week that he still had more than half of his storage units full and that he did not expect to empty everything. Elsewhere in the country, contractors and manure transporters also indicate that the warehouses are not empty and that the supply remains high among livestock farmers. This is partly due to the high fertilizer prices, says a contractor. "The cellars of livestock farmers are on average many times fuller than normal. Some of them only remove a small part of the total and only once the cellars are completely full. This is partly due to the high prices paid. Dairy farmers indicate that they cannot pay for all the manure to be removed at once."
Another problem is that there are simply too few sales options, several manure transporters indicate. They cannot place the manure volumes on their customers' plots. Especially livestock farmers who have to dispose of considerably more than before or who have had no regular customers in recent years, are now at the back of the queue and find it very difficult to get rid of their manure. /p>
Beyond the €35 per cubic meter
With the large supply of liquid manure and the situation in the manure market, it is impossible to estimate what the further development of manure prices will be in the coming months. The fact remains that for every euro increase, not a single cubic meter is created. However, selling prices are already rising further and manure transporters and contractors are reluctant to purchase manure. "I don't know at what rates I will have to sell the manure later, so I now rarely or rarely drive to our silos," says a contractor. They don't want to have to pay extra in the future. Those who do drive manure to the silos usually increase their prices.
DCA MI's manure quotations show another increase this week in both the collection contributions for fattening pig and cattle liquid manure. This continues the trend of recent weeks. The pressure on the market remains somewhat higher in the southern regions than in the center and north of the country due to the wet spring. This is also reflected in the quotations, which have risen more rapidly in these areas in recent weeks. Due to the differences in where the manure is sold and whether or not there are regular customers, the bandwidth is very wide. For example, fattening pig slurry is sometimes loaded for €31 but also €38 per cubic meter. Fattening pig slurry averages around €34 per cubic meter, depending on the region. The average price paid for cattle slurry is above €30 per cubic meter.
For an overview of all the different fertilizer quotations per region, click here.