Central Florida: Dealers in the eastern portion of the country were still holding off on making buys of phosphate and other fertilizers last week, and a strong possibility began to emerge that when ordering does begin, it will be difficult to meet their demands.
Because of the time it would take to place an order, load railcars, and get them to their destinations, trucks could have to make long hauls, which would add to the expense. Sources said dealers who want to save money for themselves and their customers should avoid waiting until the last minute – or the last ton in their bins – to make a move.
Mosaic will be closing its Hookers Prairie Mine in Polk County, Fla., by the end of next year, but it will continue to operate its phosphate processing plant at Bartow. The county had been the center of the phosphate mining business for decades.
The Central Florida DAP market was quoted at $370-$380/st FOB last week, down $10/st from last report. The price was much closer to the NOLA DAP barge price, but may have to decline more due to higher transportation costs.
MAP prices continued to bring a $20/st premium over DAP in the Central Florida market.
U.S. Gulf: As the time for river closing draws near, NOLA DAP and MAP barges already upriver or heading in that direction were bringing a premium last week.
Possibly sometime this week, barge lines will discontinue heading north of St. Louis or Cairo, Ill., as a cautionary move to avoid having their vessels trapped for the winter. After that, phosphate will be able to move to dealers in those areas only by truck or rail, which will add to the cost.
As one trader put it, however, “It’s not a matter of when the season will start this year, it’s if the season will start.”
Paper trades for December were running as low as $330/st FOB late last week, and that was said to be pushing those holding positions to attempt to liquidate sooner than planned.
An extra dose of precipitation at mid-month in parts of the Cornbelt should help raise the water level on the Mississippi River, which has been low for the past several weeks. Docks at St. Louis, Blytheville, Ark., and Memphis, Tenn., have been negatively impacted by low water levels, although recent rains helped push river levels at Memphis up 10 feet in four days. River levels were again receding as the week advanced, however.
On the futures market, prices for corn and soybeans were up compared with the previous week, while wheat was down. Corn was $4.4325/bushel for December 2013, up from $4.3825/bushel the previous week, while corn for December 2014 firmed slightly to $4.8325/bushel from the prior week’s $4.8025/bushel.
The soybean price for November 2013 was $12.9225/bushel last week, up from $12.88 bushel a week earlier, while beans for November 2014 firmed to $11.735/bushel from the previous week’s $11.7225/bushel.
Wheat for December 2013 fell to $7.49/bushel from the prior week’s $7.55/bushel, while wheat for July 2014 fell just slightly, to $7.335/bushel from $7.385 the previous week. Wheat for July 2015 was posted at $7.10/bushel last week, down from $7.1925/bushel one week earlier.
Koch and Helm were continuing to bring in vessels carrying OCP-produced MAP, DAP, and to a lesser extent TSP at a combined rate of three ships per month.
The NOLA DAP barge price range last week came in at $368-$377/st FOB, compared to the previous week’s narrower range of $374-$376/st FOB. NOLA MAP barges were about $20/st FOB higher than DAP last week, but were anticipated to fall in the near future.
Prices for upriver phosphate barges were running as high as $386.50/st FOB late last week.
Eastern Cornbelt: DAP remained at $415-$430/st FOB regional warehouses, with the low at Cincinnati. M