Almost 3 million mt were made in firm offers in the STC urea tender that closed today. Another 840,000 mt we offered as optional sales.
Prices hovered in the $270s/mt CFR except for outlier Aires who offered 110,000 mt at $266/mt CFR and $273/mt CFR, based on the port of discharge. Both offers were for East Coast ports.
The next lowest prices were from Swiss Singapore with one cargo to Krishnapatnam at $270/mt CFR and Global Transnational at $272/mt CFR. Both offers were backed by Iranian material. Ameropa offered at $272.10/mt CFR with what looks to be Chinese urea.
Offers are valid until June 25.
Traders were shocked by the Aries offer and some have questioned if the companies that offered in the low-$270s/mt CFR will – or are able to – match the Aries number.
STC was expected to take more than 1 million mt in this tender. If no one can match the Aries number, however, another tender will most likely have to be called soon.