U.S. Gulf/Tampa: The markets remained quiet last week.
July-December ammonia imports were off 15 percent to 2.94 million st, down from the year-ago 3.48 million st, according to the U.S. Department of Commerce. December was off 18 percent, at 480,071 st from the year-ago 586,438 st.
March NYMEX natural gas closed at $5.223/mmBtu Feb. 13, up from Feb. 6’s $4.931/mmBtu.
Eastern Cornbelt: The storm that blanketed the Northeast with heavy snows last week stayed mostly east of the region, though winter was flexing its muscles in parts of the Eastern Cornbelt as well.
A winter weather advisory was in effect as the week advanced for south central Indiana, and cold temperatures produced freezing rain and snowfall in central and southern Ohio last week. Parts of Ohio continued to shiver under subzero lows last week.
Sources reported only slight changes to the spot fertilizer markets, with few new sales to test the market.
The anhydrous ammonia market remained at $515-$530/st FOB in Illinois, with the low FOB E. Dubuque. The upper end of the regional range was steady at $540/st FOB in the Indiana market.
Western Cornbelt: Anhydrous ammonia pricing continued to cover a very broad range in the Western Cornbelt, with the low end reported at $440/st FOB in Nebraska. In Iowa, the dealer market was quoted at $475-$480/st FOB, while Missouri sources pegged the market at $490-$500/st FOB or for delivered tons from southern production points.
Drought conditions continued to expand in Iowa and Nebraska, according to the Feb. 11 U.S. Drought Monitor. Only the northeast corner of Iowa remained drought-free last week, with moderate to severe drought covering the southern half of the state and abnormally dry conditions reported in the west.
Nebraska remained completely enveloped in some form of drought last week, ranging from abnormally dry in the state’s eastern counties to severe-to-extreme drought conditions in the southwest. Northern Missouri was also experiencing abnormally dry to moderate drought conditions at mid-month.
California: Parts of California finally received some drought relief in the form of rain and snow in early February. The storm dropped more than 11 inches of rain in parts of Marin and Sonoma Counties in northern California, and 1-3 inches in the San Francisco area.
The storm blanketed parts of the Sierra Nevada with 1-2 feet of new snow, boosting snowpack levels in the range that had fallen to just 12 percent of normal as of Jan. 30.
The state still needs a lot of precipitation to pull it out of its severe drought status, however. Gov. Jerry Brown in January declared a drought emergency in California, and legislators have offered a number of proposals to combat the drought, including a measure that would reallocate water from the San Joaquin Delta to farmers south in the Central Valley, and another that would allocate some $300 million into emergency aid and drought relief projects.
“More rain is needed, but recent storms have helped some,” said one regional contact last week. “Movement has started, and it should be an earlier-than-normal spring.” Another sourced noted, however, that the pace remains slow because growers are “not sure what to do, with water availability at about half of their needs.”
The anhydrous ammonia market was unchanged at $630-$635/st DEL in California. Aqua ammonia was reported at the $172/st FOB level in the state; Agrium’s Feb. 10 aqua ammonia posting in California included $172/st FOB.
Pacific Northwest: Oregon and parts of western Washington began the week with high winds and freezing rain, and high wind warnings continued at midweek for some coastal areas of both states. The moisture followed