The long wait is over. MMTC called a urea tender to close Sept. 26. The tender call was long expected. Sources say the country still needs about 2.2 million mt to close out the year.
The soft urea market and slightly rebounding rupee makes the possibility of large purchases possible. Sources say, however, the supplies of urea are not as plentiful as they were just a few weeks ago. The big players in the tender are expected to be Iranian and Chinese producers.
Sources reported last week that Chinese exporters successfully closed deals with North and South American buyers as well as a handful of African buyers. The result is that the port-side warehouses are not bulging with product as they once were. While Iran could play a major role, the amount of Iranian tons is not as much as Indian buyers would like.
The move to call the tender came as sources were beginning to see a minor uptick in urea prices in China and the Arab Gulf. The shutdown of CIS producers in response to the lower prices will have an impact on urea availability.
MMTC added an addendum that required Iranian suppliers to provide all required insurance packages in their offers. MMTC will cover the insurance for all non-Iranian material.