Central Florida: Sources said the long-running logistics issues still plaguing much of North America had largely cleared up in the Central Florida market, and that railcars had become available for shipping phosphates.
Sources noted, however, that buyers were largely uninterested in new product, having deemed the spring planting season too far concluded to get new product shipped and applied to fields before the end of planting.
Regardless, a handful of truck-loaded DAP sales were reported at levels of $465/st FOB, and resellers were said to be offering small quantities of rail-loaded DAP at $470/st FOB. Mosaic’s posted price for DAP was unchanged at $460/st FOB, with MAP listed $20/st FOB more.
As a result, prices in the Central Florida DAP market ranged from $460-$470/st FOB based on limited sales and offers and Mosaic’s posted price, a rise from $460-$465/st FOB the previous week. MAP was quoted in a range of $480-$490/st FOB, although no transactions were reported.
U.S. Gulf: Prices on the river continued to descend as the end of the spring planting season drew nearer. Lower prices prompted a round of buying, however, and sources said the overall volume of phosphate changing hands was considerably higher than in recent weeks.
Confirmed transactions were reported as low as $430/st FOB for a loaded barge at NOLA. Late-week offers in the neighborhood of $425/st FOB were rumored, but concluded transactions could not be verified at those levels. Moving NOLA barge sales were confirmed up to $440/st FOB.
Sources said offers were higher upriver, buoyed by terminal prices lingering north of $500/st FOB in many regions. Upriver prices were said to be “all over the place,” however, as a battle waged between sellers fervently hoping to minimize losses from barges bought earlier in the season, and buyers who knew prices were on the decline. MAP was said to draw little interest, and sources pegged prices at a $15-$20/st FOB premium to DAP in the current market.
Terminal operators reported prices of $490-$510/st FOB on the lower river markets, with upper river terminals fetching $510-$520/st FOB. MAP was in short supply at many terminals, but those who had it reported a $10-$15/st FOB premium over DAP.
Lacking much concrete information from either PotashCorp or OCP, rumors continued to swirl regarding the recently announced partnership between the two. Sources speculated that PotashCorp would buy roughly one phosphate cargo per month of Moroccan material to sell to U.S. customers, and Koch would likely shift its phosphate sourcing to Russia and China in lieu of tons from OCP.
Corn and wheat were falling on the futures market as of 4:00 p.m. on May 15, but soybeans were mixed.
Corn contracts for July 2014 clocked in at $4.8425/bushel, a substantial fall from the previous week’s $5.165/bushel. September 2014 corn was $4.81/bushel, also down from the prior week’s $5.1325/bushel, and corn for December 2014 fell to $4.805/bushel from the previous week’s $5.115/bushel.
The July 2014 soybean price rose to $14.7025/bushel from $14.695/bushel a week earlier, while soybeans for October 2014 fell to $14.0175/bushel from the prior week’s $14.0725/bushel. Soybeans for November 2014 were posted at $12.1775/bushel, down from $12.24/bushel a week earlier.
Wheat for July 2014 was $6.7825/bushel, down from the previous week’s $7.3525/bushel, while September 2014 wheat fell to $6.87/bushel from the prior week’s $7.4375/bushel. Contracts for July 2015 wheat were listed at $7.2225/bushel, well below the $7.5825/bushel reported one week earlier.
Elevated river flows persisted in the upper Mississippi and Illinois Rivers, causing problems in the Midwest.
Flows above 40,000 cubic feet per second necessit