Central Florida: Adequate rain and warm temperatures meant good growing conditions for crops in the eastern part of the country, which is primarily served by rail from Central Florida or North Carolina.
As has been the case for some time, nothing really changed in the Central Florida phosphate market last week. The DAP price range for the Central Florida market remained at $435-$450/st FOB, with large customers receiving the best prices. MAP continued to bring a $20/st premium over DAP in Central Florida.
U.S. Gulf: USDA surprised many in the agricultural industry – and certainly the futures market – when it released its latest estimate for corn and soybean production.
Because of the wet weather that delayed planting this spring, many expected the department to lower the corn production estimate from 14 billion bushels to around 13.1 billion bushels. However, that did not happen. The government stuck to its guns and kept its original estimate intact, or very close to it, at 13.95 billion bushels of corn.
USDA also said corn stocks for 2013/14 would rise to 1,959 million bushels from 729 million bushels for 2012/13, and soybeans would rise from 125 million bushels in 2012/13 to 265 million bushels for 2013/14. Because of the lower yields last year due to drought and greater exports to China, stocks of corn and soybeans will not be excessive, USDA said.
Some said USDA was overly optimistic, however, citing late plantings in crucial corn states like Iowa. The futures market did its own math, taking into account the late planting and the continued potential for drought, and crop prices last week were on the rise.
Corn for July was at $7.15/bushel last week, up from $6.645/bushel a week earlier. Corn for December 2013 rose to $5.59/bushel from the previous week’s $5.30/bushel, and corn for December 2014 was posted at $5.26/bushel last week, up from $5.0125/bushel the previous week.
Soybeans for July were at $16.0125/bushel last week, up from $15.73/bushel a week earlier. Soybean prices for November 2013 were up to $14.72/bushel from $14.3575/bushel the previous week, while soybeans for November 2014 moved up to $12.907/bushel from the prior week’s $12.4325/bushel.
Wheat for July 2013 increased to $6.7925/bushel from $6.5075/bushel the previous week, while wheat for September 2013 moved to $6.83/bushel, up from $6.575/bushel at last report. The wheat price for July 2015 was posted at $7.1225/bushel last week, up from $7.02/bushel the previous week.
Water levels on the Mississippi River and its major tributaries remained high but below flood stage at most locations last week. NOLA phosphate and other fertilizer barges were reporting no problems navigating the waterways.
Between the lack of need to refill bins and the upcoming Southwestern Fertilizer Conference in San Antonio, activity was even slower last week than the previous week. Only a few transactions were found, and they were generally at a lower price than the previous week.
The NOLA DAP barge price dropped to $408-$415/st FOB last week based on actual transactions, compared with $420-$425/st FOB the previous week. The NOLA DAP barges that were sold included a mix of both domestic and Moroccan product, although Moroccan actually had a greater presence in the spot market.
MAP, which was less available, was still in the $440-$455/st FOB NOLA range, with the lowest price for Russian product and the highest for domestic. Very little MAP was traded. Vessels coming during the next month or so from Morocco will likely depress the MAP price, and possibly DAP as well.
Eastern Cornbelt: The DAP market was quoted in the $450-$480/st FOB range in the Eastern Cornbelt, with the low reported in Illinois on a spot basis and the upper end out of inland warehouses in Ohio. MAP was