Central Florida: The Central Florida market saw little activity in the short week, though resellers quoted DAP prices steady in a range of $430-$435/st FOB for rail-loaded product. Truck sales carried a premium, and were quoted up to $440/st FOB.
States along the Eastern Seaboard braced for rough weather late in the week as Tropical Storm Arthur was projected to scrape its way northward along the coast. Arthur was projected to become a hurricane ahead of the July 4 weekend.
Traders called Central Florida DAP $430-$440/st FOB based on offers and limited sales, unchanged from the week before. Sources said MAP sales were few and far between, and prices were expected to run $20/st FOB higher than DAP.
U.S. Gulf: Heavy rains in the Midwest caused flooding and dangerously high river levels on the upper Ohio and Mississippi Rivers. Coupled with the holiday-shortened week, the NOLA barge market was especially quiet.
High water forced lock closures from St. Paul, Minn. to Burlington, Iowa, on the upper Mississippi, and at least six Midwestern states – Minnesota, Iowa, Illinois, Missouri, and North and South Dakota – were said to experience significant flooding.
The river as of July 2 remained at flood stage from St. Paul to just north of St. Louis, Mo., and sources said torrential rains that measured 3-5 inches in some locations had drowned crops in Iowa, Wisconsin, and Minnesota.
Nearby trades were practically nonexistent, sources said, and producers’ offer levels were called $440-$445/st FOB for DAP. The most recent transactions were reported to have been concluded in the $430-$440/st FOB range.
Open origin/open color offers for phosphates set to begin arriving at the end of the month were put around $430-$435/st FOB for light-colored Russian or Chinese DAP, while darker material was said to command $435-$445/st FOB. The prices were thought to be good through September.
Industry watchers who had previously feared that a deluge of imported material would suppress NOLA prices generally held a rosier outlook last week, as a portion of the Chinese and Russian-sourced vessels originally bound for the U.S. were believed to have been diverted to international buyers.
Supply was said to be relatively tight until offshore product arrives. Sources said one domestic producer was exclusively dedicated to supplying the NOLA market based on current price levels, while another was thought to offer relatively limited quantities domestically while meeting considerable international commitments.
Should international prices continue to rise, however, more domestic product is likely to find itself on the export block, sources said, which could push up prices at home.
Paper prices rebounded after a substantial dip the previous week, with sources claiming transactions of up to $440/st FOB for September, up from an average $420/st FOB in the previous reporting period.
Warehouse operators said volume continued to trickle out, and small-volume DAP sales were reported at levels of $475-$490/st FOB on the lower river and $485-$510/st FOB on the upper.
Prompt prices on the DAP barge market were unchanged from the previous week at $430-$440/st FOB, based on a dearth of nearby trades. MAP was thought to command an additional $20-$25/st FOB over DAP.
A 4 p.m. look at the futures market on July 2 saw corn and soybeans down from the previous week, while wheat contracts were mixed.
September 2014 corn was posted at $4.1225/bushel, down from the previous week’s $4.39/bushel, and corn for December 2014 had slipped to $4.18/bushel from $4.4325/bushel the week before. Contracts for March 2015 corn were $4.2925/bushel.
Soybean prices for August 2014 were $13.1475/bushel, down from the previous week’s $13.8175/bushel. Novem