Prices in the Indian Potash Ltd. urea tender that closed Saturday, Nov. 28, showed a drop of $8/mt in prices from the previous STC tender. A majority of the offers were below $260/mt CFR, with the lowest offers at $254-$255/mt CFR for West Coast deliveries and $255-256/mt CFR for East Coast ports.
The prices reflect a netback in the mid-to-upper $240s/mt FOB for Chinese product. Chinese producers were arguing right up to the last minute they would not support any awards that reflected a netback below $250/mt FOB.
All told, 28 companies offered slightly more than 3 million mt in firm offers. An additional 240,000 mt was offered as optional tonnage. The Indian buyer should issue its counter bids based on delivery ports by Monday, Nov. 30. Details of the tender will be available in the Dec. 7, 2015 issue of Green Markets.