U.S. Gulf: Recent potash barge trades continued to be put in the $367-$375/st FOB range.
MOP imports shot up in June by 46 percent, to 1.01 million st from the year-ago 694,804 st. Fertilizer year imports were up 3 percent, to 10.71 million st from 10.35 million st.
Eastern Cornbelt: The potash market was quoted firmly in the $400-$417/st range FOB regional warehouses in the Eastern Cornbelt, depending on grade, location, and supplier.
Western Cornbelt: The potash market in the Western Cornbelt continued to be quoted firmly at the $400-$410/st FOB level for red and $407-$417/st FOB for white granular tons.
California: Potash was unchanged at $498-$515/st FOB in California, with the delivered market pegged at $505-$515/st.
Crystalline potassium nitrate was steady at $950/st FOB for bulk and $1,020/st FOB for bags.
The sulfate of potash (SOP) market had reportedly firmed to a broad range at $685-$735/st FOB in California, with the upper end reflecting new postings for limited tons from some regional suppliers. Sources reported “very good sales” and “very short inventory for all grades of SOP at all locations.”
Pacific Northwest: The potash market remained at $455-$465/st FOB warehouses or DEL in the Pacific Northwest, depending on grade and location. The potash market FOB Utah mines was steady as well at $400-$405/st, depending on grade.
The SOP Magnesia market was quoted at $461-$471/st FOB in the region.
Western Canada: Granular potash was steady at $429/mt FOB Saskatchewan mines to Canadian customers, with regional warehouses reported in the mid $400s/mt FOB in Western Canada.
Brazil: K+S confirmed that it lost market share in Brazil in 2014 due to the production outage at its Unterbreizbach mine. The company did receive a €30 million insurance recovery related to the outage (GM Aug. 18, p. 14).
K+S expects that it will begin shipping higher volumes to Brazil again in 2015, and that it will again achieve total overall production of 7 million mt in 2015. “Our relationships with our clients are so reliable that they are not gone forever,” K+S told analysts.
The Brazil market saw a strengthening in prices in the first half, perhaps aided by the loss of K+S tons. Sellers are now eyeing $380/mt CFR or higher for the next round of business. The last done remains at $350-$360/mt CFR, however.