U.S. Gulf: Granular urea prices traded in a narrower range last week at $313-$319/st FOB. Overall, sources said the market was fairly quiet right now. One source said it was almost like Europe, with everyone on vacation.
Others said the market is in a brief lull until more imports hit the shore. Sources are already anticipating additional Chinese tons, and have been debating their pricing. Depending on the particular import and its source in China, sources say the quality can either be akin to other imports or significantly off kilter.
Prills continued to be called $335-$337/st FOB.
Eastern Cornbelt: Granular urea pricing remained 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 on a spot basis.
Western Cornbelt: The granular urea market remained in the $350-$360/st FOB range out of most regional terminals in the Western Cornbelt. One Iowa contact pegged the common dealer market at the $355/st FOB level in late July.
California: Granular urea remained at $450-$460/st FOB and roughly $480-$500/st DEL in California. Agrium’s July 1 postings for urea ranged from $460-$470/st FOB and $490-$525/st truck-DEL in the state.
Pacific Northwest: Sources quoted the granular urea market last week at $410-$430/st FOB in the Pacific Northwest, unchanged from last report. Delivered pricing was also unchanged at $425-$440/st in the region, with postings in the $430-$445/st DEL range.
Western Canada: Granular urea was steady at $480-$490/mt DEL in Manitoba, $490-$495/mt DEL in Saskatchewan, and $495-$510/mt DEL in Alberta and British Columbia.
India: The IPL tender presented opportunities for a number of traders to put in aggressively low prices while keeping producers happy.
The long shipping date – mid-September – allows tender winners to let the market play out and positions to evolve. One trader noted that the problem with the low price in the recent STC tender was that the shipping deadline was too close to the award date.
Sources report that out of the 4 million mt offered, IPL is taking about 1 million mt. Prices vary according to the port of discharge. The low price offered by Overseas of $303.50/mt CFR is for the larger west coast ports. East coast ports are taking shipments at $305/mt CFR. Sources add that slightly higher prices are being awarded for smaller ports.
In the June STC tender, only three companies offered tons below $310/mt CFR. This time around, of the 27 companies offering material, only four had offers exceeding $310/mt CFR.
Tender results follow.
| Offering Company |
Orgin | Quantity (‘000mt) |
US $/mt CFR | Discharge Port | Comments | |
| Firm | Optional | |||||
| Overseas | Open | 180 | 60 | 303.50 | ||