Central Florida: The spring phosphate season continued to wind down in Central Florida. Prices held firm against what some described as limited selling opportunities, and were mostly called $445/st FOB for DAP.
Truck-loaded product comprised the bulk of reported sales. Some traders offered DAP around $450/st FOB, although no transactions were confirmed at that level.
Difficulty in sourcing phosphate continued to be a problem for some, with producers reportedly preferring to supply more lucrative offshore markets.
Central Florida DAP was quoted at $445/st FOB, unchanged from last report. MAP was also unchanged at $450-$465/st FOB.
U.S. Gulf: Sources reported a quieter NOLA barge market last week, with trading volumes falling from the corn season’s recent peak.
DAP spot prices continued to rise despite the slowdown, and were quoted in a range of $418-$425/st FOB. MAP was quoted at $420-$435/st FOB for confirmed sales. Paper swaps for June and July continued in a range of $420-$425/st FOB, and a number of early third-quarter physical sales were reported in the same range.
Cooling terminal demand sucked the wind out of the upriver barge market, which sources universally declared all but dead for the week. “We haven’t been pinged for anything upriver since last week,” said one contact.
With demand tapering off, the market’s price swell was counterintuitive to some. Though total barge supply was believed to be relatively unchanged from recent weeks, the number of sources offering barges was significantly reduced.
Mosaic’s repurchase of “under a dozen” of its own barges in the previous reporting period swept up small-quantity offerings from a number of traders, sources said, resulting in Mosaic and one other major player holding the majority of the market’s length. While some speculated that those repurchased barges were quickly turned around and offered at the current week’s higher rates, Mosaic said the material was to be included in a sale to India instead.
“We recently bought a dozen or so barges off the Mississippi,” said Mosaic CEO Jim Prokopanko, speaking at the BMO Farm to Market Conference in New York. “Barges were starting to weaken and be a burden on the market. We took those barges and made another vessel sale to India, and we made a margin on the barges we bought.”
Additionally, the NOLA market remains the cheapest phosphate market in the world, observers said, and domestic prices will be forced to rise in order to compete with offshore markets commanding $10-$15/st above current barge rates.
Confirmed DAP transactions were put in the $418-$425/st FOB range, up from $410.50-$418/st FOB the week before. Offers of $430/st FOB were prevalent, although no barges were believed to have traded at that price as of May 21. MAP was called $420-$435/st FOB, an increase from $420/st FOB at last report.
Eastern Cornbelt: DAP was quoted at $460-$470/st FOB in the Eastern Cornbelt, with MAP $5-$15/st higher than DAP, depending on location.
10-34-0 was reportedly unavailable in the region last week due to extremely tight supply.
Western Cornbelt: Sources in all three Western Cornbelt states pegged the DAP market commonly at the $460/st FOB level last week, with MAP quoted at $465-$470/st FOB.
10-34-0 remained in very tight supply in the region. Although some sources said no tons were available and pegged the last confirmed business at $590/st FOB, others said the new pricing level for any available product was firmly at the $640/st FOB mark “if you can find the tons.”
Southern Plains: The DAP market was quoted firmly at the $460/st level FOB Catoosa, w