U.S. Gulf: New granular urea trades were reported within the $317-$325/st FOB range last week. Near-term business appeared firm, but market bears claim that August and September will likely bring imports – particularly Chinese product – to put more pressure on pricing.
Prills lost the top end of the prior week’s range, and are now called $335-$337/st FOB. Yara said July 19 that its Libyan facilities are currently running at about 75 percent capacity due to utility issues.
Urea imports were up 26 percent for July-May, falling to 8 million st from the year-ago 6.4 million st. However, they were off 14 percent in May, at 481,953 st from the year-ago 561,178 st.
Eastern Cornbelt: Granular urea pricing was steady at $355-$365/st FOB most river terminals in the Eastern Cornbelt, with the top end of the regional range quoted at the $375/st FOB mark out of inland warehouses.
Western Cornbelt: The granular urea market remained in the $350-$360/st FOB range out of most regional terminals in the Western Cornbelt.
Southern Plains: Granular urea pricing had reportedly slipped to $340-$350/st FOB out of the Tulsa, Okla., market, with Houston pricing pegged at the $390/st FOB level.
South Central: Urea continued to move in topdress applications on rice in the South Central region, but the pace was slowing. USDA placed fully 86 percent of Mississippi’s rice crop in the good or excellent categories last week, compared with 73 percent in Louisiana, 63 percent in Arkansas and Missouri, and 45 percent in Texas.
With demand winding down, sources continued to quote the granular urea market in the $355-$365/st FOB range out of regional terminals for the last bit of rice business.
Southeast: More precipitation hit parts of Georgia, the Carolinas, and southern Alabama last week, with torrential rains and high winds causing power outages and flooding in parts of southern Alabama on July 23.
All the moisture – which some Georgia contacts described as too much – has benefitted crops in parts of the region, but conditions varied widely.
There were no new sales to test the regional urea market. Sources reported the last bit of granular urea business at the $405/st FOB mark out of port terminals.
Pakistan: The TCP tender closed on July 22, and a new tender was quickly called to close July 30. The prices in the just-closed tender were lower than sources had expected.
The lowest offer came from Swiss Singapore at $317/mt CFR for 50,000 mt. In the end, TCP awarded the trading house 75,000 mt. The award means TCP is hoping that its next tender will draw enough support for the additional 225,000 mt.
The government authorized TCP to bypass the usual 30-day notification process to ensure timely delivery of the material. For now, TCP is bound by rules requiring a seven-day notice for the tender. It is also still required to accept only the lowest offer and not engage in negotiations with other companies to match the offer in a move to increase the purchase amount.
The tally of the July 22 tender follows.
| July 22 TCP Urea Tender | ||
| Offering Company | Quantity (mt) | US$/mt CFR |
| Swiss Singapore | 50,000 | 317.00 |
| Dreymoor | 50,000 | 318.72 |
| Blue Debaaj | 75 | |