Central Florida: No new prompt, spot sales were found out of Central Florida last week, but the fall application season should begin in the next few weeks. In the meantime, however, dealers continued to hold off making buys.
The Central Florida DAP market remained at a flat $410/st FOB, with MAP bringing a $20/st premium over DAP.
U.S. Gulf: Phosphate barge prices on the NOLA river system continued to slide last week, although NOLA DAP barge paper prices for October and November were edging up as the week advanced.
There was still no big rush to buy from phosphate producers or traders. The start of the fall application season will coordinate approximately with The Fertilizer Institute’s World Fertilizer meeting in Montreal Sept. 22-24, so some deals could be reached there.
Interestingly, the recent announcement that India was buying about 160,000 mt of DAP from China did not seem to have an impact on the NOLA DAP market, even though the price was much lower than what the Indians had been paying.
One source said the deal was not really a new sale, but rather a price adjustment for a deal previously made with China. The Indian rupee has been falling, and India had been working hard to renegotiate its existing contracts.
Many feared that it would cause a sharp decrease in international phosphate prices, but that had not happened by late last week.
Unless rains come soon, low water on the Mississippi River could again become a navigational problem. Lacrosse, Wisc., located in the upper reaches of the river system, set a record for the least amount of rainfall from July 1 through Sept. 10. The city recorded only 2.4 inches during that period, besting the previous record of 2.52 inches.
On the futures market, crop prices were varied but mostly up from the previous week. Corn for December 2013 was $4.6425/bushel, up from $4.61/bushel for the previous week, while corn for December 2014 firmed to $5.03/bushel from the prior week’s $4.9775/bushel.
The soybean price for November 2013 moved up to $13.89/bushel from the previous week’s $13.675 bushel, while soybeans for November 2014 slipped slightly to $11.9325/bushel, compared with $11.945/bushel one week earlier.
Wheat for December 2013 moved up to $6.93/bushel from the previous week’s $6.893/bushel, while wheat for July 2015 fell just slightly, to $6.89/bushel from $6.8925/bushel at last report.
The NOLA DAP barge price was reported at $365-$370/st FOB based on actual sales, compared with the previous week’s wider range of $367-$382/st FOB. MAP prices were in the $390-$400/st FOB range, down from $400-$410/st FOB a week earlier.
MAP was in short supply late last week, and several sources said they were waiting to see what would be available from the Koch import of OCP material. The expectation was that it could force MAP prices down somewhat.
Eastern Cornbelt: DAP was quoted at $435-$455/st FOB in the Eastern Cornbelt, with the low out of river locations and the upper numbers inland. MAP was $20/st higher than DAP.
10-34-0 remained in a wide range at $425-$475/st FOB in the region.
Western Cornbelt: DAP remained flat in the $425-$435/st range FOB regional warehouses, with the low reported in southern Missouri and the upper end in northern Missouri and Iowa. MAP was $20/st higher than DAP.
A Missouri source said growers are holding off on preplant winter wheat applications until the region gets some moisture. “We won’t do anything with wheat until we see some rain,” he said. “Last year we had a bad crop, but then we got some late summer rains, which sparked a great fall season. Right now, as dry as we are, the prospects aren’t good for fall.”
Sources said DAP out of the