U.S. Gulf: The bad news last week for sellers was that granular barges remained under pressure. The good news is they appeared to have settled in the $320s/st FOB. Sources last week put trades between $320-$328/st FOB.
Prills remained a puzzle as to whether they still justified a premium or had fallen in line with granular. For now, the last word on prills was $350/st FOB.
Eastern Cornbelt: The granular urea market was quoted at $395-$415/st FOB in the Eastern Cornbelt region last week, down some $20/st from last report, with the low out of spot river locations.
Western Cornbelt: Granular urea pricing continued to slip in the Western Cornbelt, with regional sources quoting the river terminal market in the $380-$390/st FOB range on the low end. Inland terminals in the region remained at the $410/st FOB level or higher.
Sources quoted the Tulsa, Okla., urea market at $365-$375/st FOB last week, with the low end reported late in the week and the higher numbers earlier.
Northern Plains: Granular urea pricing covered a very wide range in the Northern Plains region. The Twin Cities market was quoted at $380/st FOB on the low end, while North Dakota sources reported spot pricing as high as $485-$510/st on an FOB or DEL basis. North Dakota sources also talked of long truck lines at urea terminals at mid-month.
Northeast: The fieldwork pace was still stop-and-go in many locations in the Northeast due to wet conditions at mid-month, but other areas were seeing brisk activity. “Great weather,” said one New York contact on May 16. “Lots of work has been done in a short period of time.”
Much of the region began the week with chilly temperatures and even frost in parts of New England and the Mid-Atlantic region. By midweek, however, the spring chill was replaced with much warmer weather and a threat of thunderstorm activity in some locations.
USDA reported that fully 48 percent of the Pennsylvania corn crop had been seeded by May 12, up 20 percentage points from the previous week and even ahead of the five-year average of 45 percent.
Regional sources reported slipping nitrogen prices last week. Granular urea pricing was quoted at $445/st FOB in the Philadelphia market last week, down another $10/st from last report. Urea pricing out of port terminals in the Southeast region had reportedly fallen to the $420s/st FOB.
Eastern Canada: The granular urea market was quoted at $565-$580/mt FOB in Eastern Canada for prompt tons, down only slightly from last report.
India: Sources say the next Indian tender will most likely come after the IFA delegates return home from Chicago. Supplies in India are sufficient, say observers.
The last tender pulled in sufficient supplies to ensure that the supply pipeline is full enough to allow for a delay in receiving new tons until late June or early July.
By delaying the tender until late May or early June, offers from China could be included more easily in the mix. The buyers seem to hope that Iran and China will fight each other for the business and push prices down further.
Sources speculate that the Indian delegates to the IFA meeting will spend time talking about everything but urea. The Indian buyers know they are in the driver’s seat when it comes to large-scale urea purchases.
Efforts to strengthen the tendering process have also led to fewer opportunities for Indian buyers to use the IFA meeting to work out “acceptable” prices for future purchases. One trader noted that the Indians might listen to what producers and traders have to say, but will most likely be reluctant to discuss a “bottom line” price.
Traders speculate that the Indian