Ballance Agri-Nutrients announces fertiliser price increases

Photo / 123RF

RNZ

Disruption in the global supply chain is among the reasons farmers are facing price rises for fertiliser once again.

Prices have increased steadily over the past two years due to multiple factors, including hold-ups in the supply chain, the war in Ukraine and countries like China not exporting as much product.

The prices of some products have doubled in the last two years which has prompted more farmers to look for cheaper alternatives such as chicken manure or seaweed-based fertilisers.

One of the country's largest fertiliser companies, Ballance Agri-Nutrients, notified farmers prices of its fertilisers would be lifted this week by between 6 and 25 per cent.

Urea will rise $90 a tonne to $1330, Sulphurgain 30S has gone up $140 a tonne to $590 a tonne while DAP has increased 20 per cent to $1795 a tonne.

Company general manager of sales Jason Minkhorst said it has been signalling for a while that prices would increase.

"We were able to buffer some of these increases through autumn to give farmers coming out of drought the opportunity to grow plenty of feed for winter but now we need to adjust the prices to align with our rising costs.

"It's never nice when the prices go up. Farmers have always been careful with how much they use because it is expensive and for sustainability reasons but I think they will be even more cautious."

- RNZ