U.S. Gulf: Granular urea prompt barge prices continued to move up last week, with new trades reported within the $412-$422/st FOB range.
By the end of the week, sources said trades had backed off the high to around $418-$420/st FOB. Late February/March business was called $418-$429/st FOB.
Prills were generally put between $405-$415/st FOB, with some now seeking to move the price up to $420/st FOB.
Eastern Cornbelt: Granular urea out of the Cincinnati, Ohio, market was quoted at $450/st FOB for prompt and $455/st FOB for spring prepay. Prompt sales out of the East Liverpool, Ohio, market were reported at the $455/st FOB level. In the Illinois market, sources pegged urea pricing in the $455-$465/st FOB range last week.
Western Cornbelt: Granular urea pricing continued to be quoted in the $460-$480/st FOB range in the region, with the upper end in Iowa and the low in Missouri on a spot basis.
Industry sources said urea production at Koch’s Enid, Okla., plant was down last week, with no word on the cause or the expected duration of the outage. The Tulsa, Okla., urea market was tagged firmly in the $445-$455/st FOB range last week.
California: Granular urea was quoted at $500-520/st DEL in California, although sources said the market was firming to the upper end of that range in late January. One source said a fair amount of business was booked in the $500-$510/st DEL range at mid-month.
The FOB market for urea was quoted in the $475-$485/st range for spot business in California, with dealer reference levels remaining as high as $535/st FOB.
Pacific Northwest: The granular urea market was pegged at $485-$500/st FOB and $490-$515/st DEL in the Pacific Northwest.
Western Canada: The granular urea market continued to be quoted in the $560-$590/mt DEL range in Western Canada, depending on location. Dealer reference prices remained at considerably higher levels, with urea posted at $630-$640/mt DEL in Manitoba, $640-$645/mt DEL in Saskatchewan, and $645-$655/mt DEL in Alberta.
Middle East: Sources report that Egyptian production is coming back online. In the meantime, prices have jumped to $480/mt FOB for granular urea. The most likely buyers for this material are in Europe, say Asian sources.
A cutback in natural gas supplies shut down Egyptian urea production last month. The gas was diverted from industrial use to household needs. Sources report that consumer demand is easing and allowing gas to be sent once again to the urea and ammonia producers.
A similar issue of natural gas diversion occurred in Iran and is still in place.
Sources say below-normal temperatures in Iran have increased demand for natural gas to heat homes and offices. This heating demand forced the government to divert the gas away from industrial facilities. The cutback in gas to the urea producers has shut down production.
Sources report the first hit by the closure of urea facilities was India. About 150,000 mt will not be delivered to India after Iranian producers declared a force majeure.
Arab producers are asking $430/mt FOB for their granular material and a few bucks less for the prilled. Sources say, however, that no one has stepped up to that pricing level yet.
Shipments from the region are dominated by long-term contracts or development aid packages, such as the shipment last week of the first cargo from Sabic to Pakistan under a US$100 million aid deal.
India: Sources say the loss of 150,000 mt from the Iranian force majeure will most likely not create major shortages in the country.
The last Indian tender in December 2012 left the country about 100,000 mt short of its stated targ