U.S. Gulf: Granular prompt barge prices continued to be volatile again last week, dropping to as low as $370/st FOB before rebounding later in the week. Late week trades were put as high as $398-$405/st FOB.
Some complained that there was no good reason for the volatility. Others said there are legitimate concerns facing the market, however, including an extremely dry California, worries over corn acreage, and a perceived bulked up import line-up. Rumors continued to persist of at least minor problems at CF’s Donaldsonville plant. On top of this is the continued outage at LSB’s Pryor, Okla., plant.
Sources said prills spanned a broader range, reflecting the up and down sentiment in granular. The market was reported to have traded as high as $395-$400/st FOB before sinking back to $380-$385/st FOB.
Eastern Cornbelt: Granular urea remained at $440-$450/st FOB in the Illinois market, with the low end of the regional range reported at $425/st FOB Cincinnati, Ohio.
Western Cornbelt: The granular urea market was reported at $430-$450/st FOB in the Western Cornbelt, with the upper end of the range reported in Iowa. The St. Louis, Mo., urea market was tagged in the $430-$440/st FOB range last week.
Northern Plains: Sources quoted the granular urea market at $430-$450/st FOB in Minnesota for spring tons, up some $20-$40/st from early January pricing levels. One source said the last done prompt urea business out of the Twin Cities market was at the $460/st FOB level.
Prices had increased even more in the Dakotas. North Dakota sources reported delivered urea as high as $532-$540/st for new sales in the western part of the state, with some quoting the last done business at the $490/st DEL level. Postings out of North Dakota warehouses were also reported in the $490s/st FOB.
Northeast: Frigid weather once again settled over the Northeast in late January, with temperatures dropping to the low teens from southern New England down to Maryland. The arctic blast was accompanied by snowfall and icy winds in some locations, sending wind chills down to subzero lows in many areas on Jan. 27-29.
Granular urea pricing in the Northeast moved up another $30/st from early January levels, and was up some $60/st from mid-December levels. Sources tagged the regional market at $440-$450/st FOB, with the low out of East Liverpool, Ohio, and the upper end FOB Baltimore, Md., and out of Pennsylvania warehouses.
Eastern Canada: Ontario sources quoted the granular urea market last week at a firm $550/mt FOB in Eastern Canada, up approximately $100/mt from mid-December pricing levels.
Pakistan: The government is reportedly moving ahead with plans to change how urea is imported and distributed in the country.
Media reports say a government supervisory panel is ready to yank the distribution of urea from National Fertiliser Marketing Ltd. (NFML) in favor of the private sector. The move comes after charges of corruption and malfeasance were raised against NFML at the highest levels of the government.
At this point, TCP will still be the sole importer of urea.
The new plan would have domestic urea producers handle the imported urea through their existing distribution channels. A series of allocations and quotas would be established according to releases from the government to ensure timely and fair distribution of urea throughout the country.
The domestic producers have indicated they are willing to take on the responsibility. That is not stopping them, however, from continuing to call for more natural gas allocations so that the country will not have to import urea to satisfy the domestic needs.
International traders say Pakistan’s government has al