U.S. Gulf: The prompt granular barge continued to be strong last week. Barge trades were reported as high as $380/st FOB, with most sources quoting trades within the $345-$360/st FOB range. However, toward the end of the week there were reports that prices were starting to erode, with product offered as low as $340/st FOB.
July price ideas were off significantly into the low $300s/st FOB, according to some sources, although others were far more bullish.
The last done prills continued to be called $295/st FOB, with no prompt material available. July quotes were $312-$315/st FOB.
Eastern Cornbelt: Granular urea remained in a broad range at $375-$395/st FOB in the Eastern Cornbelt, with the low end reported out of spot river locations and the upper numbers inland.
Western Cornbelt: Granular urea was quoted in a broad range at $375-$400/st FOB in the region, with the upper end reported on a spot basis in rice topdressing areas of Missouri. Sources continued to report tight supplies fueled by river logistics.
California: Granular urea was reported at $380-$390/st FOB port terminals in California, down roughly $5/st from last report. No current delivered pricing was confirmed in the state last week. “There is not much new business being booked,” said one contact.
Pacific Northwest: Granular urea remained at $365-$375/st FOB port terminals in the Pacific Northwest, with reports of railed tons from the Midwest being quoted at the $395/st DEL level in the region.
Western Canada: Fertilizer pricing in Western Canada was transitioning from prompt to fill pricing last week, at least for some products.
The last prompt urea business was quoted in the $590-$600/mt DEL range. There were unconfirmed reports last week, however, of summer fill offers circulating in the $485-$500/mt DEL range in the region.
India: The STC tender closed Friday, June 19, with about 2 million tons offered. Prices were a bit softer than expected, but still higher than the recent IPL tender. Even the lowest prices submitted came in about $20/mt higher than just a month ago.
A preliminary look at the offers has Samsung the lowest at $315.85/mt CFR to any east coast port. Subsequent other offers go to Fertisul’s $319.75/mt CFR, also for the east coast. Negotiations are expected to kick in right away as STC tries to round down some prices and then encourage others to match the low-end offers.
A full report on the tally, along with a table of the offers, will appear in the next issue of Green Markets.
Sources were at a loss to explain why the tender fell to STC instead of MMTC. In the past, the three importers – IPL, STC, and MMTC – would rotate one after another until the necessary tonnage was purchased for each application season.
Sources in Asia say they have not heard any official reason why MMTC was skipped, but some relayed rumors that an MMTC subsidiary caused the trouble. It seems MTPL, an MMTC subsidiary, did not come through with its award in the April 10 STC tender. Rumors were circulating in India that MMTC needs to pay a penalty for the undelivered MTPL tons.
Sources say this tender is especially important to India. The earlier STC tender did not yield the level of offers expected because of disputes over the method of payment. It now looks as if last month’s IPL tender will result in purchases of 700,000-720,000 mt instead of the anticipated 1 million mt. The last of the IPL tender will be loaded this week, say sources.
Industry watchers noted that STC is only giving sellers about five weeks to ship their product. To some traders, the short load time indicates that India desperately need