Central Florida: A trader said there was no longer any reason to send phosphate railcars to the Northeast or other areas served by Central Florida because planting was nearly finished and dealers do not want to store any more than necessary over the summer months.
Although posted prices have not changed in months, a source said DAP could be purchased well under the lowest price posted by Mosaic, which was $55/st FOB lower than CF Industries’ last posting.
Based on that information, the new Central Florida price range was set at $450-$520/st FOB, down from $465-$520/st FOB the previous week. Large customers were receiving the best prices. Mosaic’s list price was $465/st FOB for rail and $480/st FOB for trucks, while CF was posted at $520/st FOB.
PCS Sales was selling at market prices out of Aurora and White Springs. A source quoted the DAP price out of Aurora at $497/st last week.
MAP continued to bring a $20/st premium over DAP at Central Florida.
U.S. Gulf: USDA reported the biggest U.S. corn planting in history for a single week, with growers seeding 41.8 million acres from May 13-20. That brought the total amount planted by May 20 to 71 percent of the crop.
The impact the rapid planting pace will have on phosphates was unclear. Some said enough was purchased and applied last fall to make up for the somewhat disappointing spring season, but others were not so sure.
Corn for July was $6.615/bushel last week, up from $6.415/bushel a week earlier, while corn for December 2013 moved up to $5.3325/bushel from the previous week’s $5.24/bushel. Corn for December 2014 was $5.505/bushel, up from $5.3925/bushel the previous week.
Soybeans for July were $15.05/bushel last week, up from $14.275/bushel a week earlier, while soybean prices for November 2013 moved up to $12.4175/bushel from the previous week’s $12.175/bushel. Soybeans for November 2014 were posted at $12.40/bushel, also higher than the previous week’s $12.2225/bushel.
Wheat for July 2013 increased to $7.0325/bushel from $6.8775/bushel for the previous week, while wheat for July 2014 was listed at $7.485/bushel last week, up from $7.3875/bushel the previous week. Wheat for July 2015 firmed to $7.53/bushel from the previous week’s $7.485/bushel.
NOLA DAP barge trading continued to be light last week. Despite the low number of transactions, not a lot of NOLA DAP barges were on the river system last week, but activity at warehouses and terminals was brisk in most areas.
Recent export activity has helped prevent the additional erosion of phosphate prices on the river system, and exports were expected to pick up during the next month.
The NOLA DAP barge price range changed from the previous week’s $415-$420/st FOB to $415-$428/st FOB last week. The lowest prices were for Russian DAP, while Moroccan product was as high as $425/st FOB.
MAP barges were in the $430-$450/st FOB range, but with little activity.
Eastern Cornbelt: DAP was steady at $490-$510/st FOB regional warehouses, with the low end out of river terminals and the higher numbers inland. MAP was $10/st higher.
10-34-0 was tagged at $525-$545/st FOB in the Eastern Cornbelt region.
Western Cornbelt: DAP was pegged in the $485-$500/st FOB range in the Western Cornbelt, with the low in southern Missouri. Iowa sources pegged the common dealer market in the $490-$500/st FOB range.
MAP was $10/st higher than DAP.
10-34-0 remained in a broad range at $470-$525/st FOB in the Western Cornbelt, with the low in Nebraska and the upper end in Iowa and Missouri.
Southern Plains: DAP pricing had reportedly slid to $480-$485/st FOB the Tulsa market, down $10-$15/st from last report, with MAP quoted in the $495-$