French fertilizer deliveries slide
French nitrogen-fertilizer shipments fell 19 percent to the lowest in at least four years from July through November, while phosphate and potassium deliveries also dropped, national fertilizer-industry association Unifa said.
Nitrogen sales in France, the European Union’s largest crop grower, fell to 864,000 metric tons in the first five months of the year begun July 1 from 1.06 million tons a year earlier, Paris-based Unifa said in an e-mailed statement.
France is the 27-nation EU’s biggest crop-nutrient user, according to the International Fertilizer Industry Association. French grain farmers typically buy fertilizer for next year’s crop after most harvesting is done in September.
Potassium-fertilizer shipments in France fell 10 percent to 282,000 tons in the May-November period, while phosphate deliveries slid 24 percent to 221,000 tons, Unifa said.
The association tracks nitrogen sales on the basis of a year that starts July 1, while the marketing year for potassium and phosphorus begins May 1.