The Trading Corp. of Pakistan will close a tender for 50,000 mt of urea June 5. The tender will fill out the 130,000 mt the Pakistan government ordered TCP to import for the current application season. The previous tender closed April 24. At that time TCP bought 80,000 mt from Helm at $374.73/mt CFR. At the time, sources said TCP argued with its government overseers for an exemption from the regulation forbidding the trading house to negotiate other offering companies to see if any of them would accept the Helm price for an additional 50,000 mt. The government denied the request.
The softening of the global urea market might reverse by the time the TCP tender closes. Industry sources expect to see India back in the market with a major tender no later than the first week of June. Sources say any Indian purchases could run up the price for Pakistan.