Central Florida: With corn planting nearly finished in much of the country last week, dealers scaled back their orders and were looking mostly for trucks from nearby warehouses in the areas served by Central Florida. The objective was to finish the season with empty bins.
Most dealers continued to believe prices will go down for phosphates and other fertilizer products by the time they need to restock in late August. While prices have gone down this year, export sales should diminish inventories throughout the summer, and the price trend may reverse before fall.
Phosphate producers last week got a break in the price of ammonia. The Tampa price for June moved down $22/mt, to $565/mt C&F from $587/mt, which was a bigger drop than had been anticipated.
The Central Florida price range remained unchanged at $450-$520/st FOB. Large customers were receiving the best prices. Mosaic was listed at $465/st FOB for rail and $480/st FOB for trucks, while CF Industries was posted at $520/st FOB. PCS Sales was selling at market prices out of Aurora and White Springs.
MAP continued to bring a $20/st premium over DAP at Central Florida.
U.S. Gulf: The Mississippi River and many of its tributaries were either at or rapidly approaching flood stage again late last week. The problem was most acute in the areas north of St. Louis, and Iowa appeared the hardest hit by the problem.
News reports said many rivers in Iowa were flooding last week and the Mississippi River was expected to flood in southern Iowa. The state received a record-breaking 16.4 inches of rain from March through May, well above the normal of about 10 inches. A new storm front moved into the state in the middle of last week, and that was expected to aggravate the situation.
The rain was hampering efforts to get crops in the ground. USDA estimated on May 26 that 86 percent of the corn had been planted nationally, compared with 99 percent last year and 90 percent for the five-year average. Soybeans were also behind schedule, with only 44 percent planted nationally by May 26, compared with an average of 61 percent.
Crop prices were mixed last week. Corn for July was lower at $6.5075/bushel last week, compared with $6.615/bushel a week earlier. Corn for December 2013 was $5.585/bushel, up from $5.3325/bushel the week before, while corn for December 2014 was posted at $5.645/bushel, up from $5.505/bushel the previous week.
Soybeans for July were at $14.98/bushel, down from $15.05/bushel a week earlier. Bean prices for November 2013 firmed to $12.8525/bushel from the previous week’s $12.4175/bushel, while soybeans for November 2014 were posted at $12.725/bushel, up from $12.40/bushel a week earlier.
Wheat for July 2013 decreased to $6.9675/bushel from the previous week’s $7.0325/bushel, while wheat for July 2014 moved up to $7.5025/bushel last week, compared with $7.485/bushel the week before. Wheat for July 2015 was listed at $7.745/bushel last week, also up from $7.53/bushel a week earlier.
NOLA phosphate barges were still moving, albeit at a very slow rate. The NOLA DAP barge price range changed from the previous week’s $415-$428/st to $417-$425/st FOB last week. Forward sales were in the range of $425-$428/st FOB.
Export sales were providing the foundation for NOLA DAP barge sales, and that should remain the case throughout much of the summer season.
MAP, which had a lower availability, was in the $440-$450/st FOB NOLA range, with little activity.
Eastern Cornbelt: Sources pegged the low end of the DAP market at $465/st FOB Cincinnati, but most regional terminals were put within the $480-$490/st FOB range last week. The MAP market was quoted at $500-$510/st FOB, with the low at Cincinnati.
10-34-0 was tagged at $525-$550/st FOB in the Eastern Cornbelt region, with the l