U.S. Gulf/Tampa: The Tampa ammonia price for November closed last week at $655/mt CFR, up $15/mt from October’s $640/mt.
In the end, recent production outages in Ukraine, North Africa, Australia, and Trinidad outweighed Mosaic’s announcement that it would cut phosphate production at its facilities. Assuming no further production outages, however, sources said last week that prices may have peaked with the November increase.
November NYMEX gas settled rolled off the board Oct. 29 at $3.728/mmBtu, up from Oct. 23’s close of $3.622/mmBtu. December closed on Oct. 30 at $3.827/mmBtu.
Eastern Cornbelt: The region’s harvest delays slowed the application of fall fertilizer in late October. “It’s pretty quiet on fall application,” said one Illinois contact. “Most dealers are just using up inventory before going back to the market.”
Another source said fall ammonia applications would likely start in his area in early November if soil temperatures are low enough. Sources quoted the ammonia market at $650-$665/st FOB regional terminals. Dealer pricing out of Huntington, Ind., was pegged at the $655/st FOB level last week.
Western Cornbelt: The ammonia market remained at $630-$660/st FOB regional terminals, with the low reported in Nebraska and the upper end in Missouri. Delivered ammonia was steady at $640-$680/st from southern production points, depending on location and point of origin.
Sources reported some plowdown fertilizer activity in the region, with preplant tons also moving on winter wheat ground. The wheat crop was virtually all planted in Nebraska, while progress in Missouri was just 38 percent complete by Oct. 26.
Northern Plains: Sources reported some fall movement of ammonia in the Northern Plains last week, and dry spreaders were also rolling in some areas. The pace was slow, however. “It’s not as much as we’d like, so it’s going to be a hectic spring by the looks of it,” said one source. “Maybe we’ll have a nice November and more tons will be spread.”
The ammonia market was quoted at $640-$650/st FOB regional terminals, with several North Dakota shipping points reportedly out of product or on allocation. North Dakota sources pegged the upper end of the dealer market at the $680-$700/st level on an FOB or DEL basis for limited tons.
Great Lakes: Sources continued to report the anhydrous ammonia market in the Great Lakes region at $655-$675/st FOB, with the upper end quoted by Michigan sources FOB Courtright, Ont. One Wisconsin source reported the common dealer market at the $665/st FOB level last week.
Western Canada: Industry sources last week reported an unexpected outage at Koch’s Brandon, Manitoba, nitrogen complex. The company did not respond to inquiries, however.