U.S. Gulf: Barge prices continued to shoot up last week. While the market appears uncertain and volatile on urea, higher UAN numbers appeared to be a firmer proposition. Could it be that liquids sound better in a time of drought?
The latest trades were reported at $315-$320/st ($9.84-$10.00/unit) FOB. However, sources said seller price ideas had quickly moved up, and that the next trade could well be somewhere in the $330-$345/st ($10.31-$10.78/unit) FOB range.
May imports were up 26 percent, to 415,336 st from the year-ago 330,768 st. July-May imports were up 2 percent, to 3.34 million st from 3.26 million st.
Eastern Cornbelt: UAN pricing had moved up on the basis of higher replacement costs. UAN-28 was quoted at $325-$330/st ($11.61-$11.76/unit) FOB in the Ohio market, with the low out of river terminals and the upper end inland. Indiana sources said UAN-28 pricing had firmed from $300/st ($10.71/unit) to $310/st ($11.07/unit) FOB for new sales. Illinois sources pegged the UAN-32 market at the $360/st ($11.25/unit) FOB level last week.
Western Cornbelt: The UAN-32 market was quoted in a broad range at $340.80-$360/st ($10.65-$11.25/unit) FOB regional terminals, with the low reported in Iowa and the upper end in the Missouri market on a spot basis.
California: The UAN-32 market in California had reportedly slipped to $355-$380/st ($11.09-$11.88/unit) FOB terminals, depending on location and supplier, with rail-delivered tons pegged at the $370/st ($11.56/unit) level in the Central Valley. The low end reflected new postings that took effect July 16 from one regional supplier.
Pacific Northwest: Agrium announced another UAN-32 increase on July 20, with prices firming $15/st from July 13 reference levels.
As a result, UAN-32 postings moved on July 20 to $415/st ($12.97/unit) rail-DEL in Washington, northern Idaho, and Oregon excluding Malheur County; $420/st ($13.13/unit) rail-DEL and $425/st ($13.28/unit) truck-DEL in Nevada, Utah, southern Idaho, and Oregon’s Malheur County; and $420/st ($13.13/unit) rail-DEL and $435/st ($13.59/unit) truck-DEL in the Klamath Basin. In Montana and northern Wyoming, Agrium’s postings moved on July 20 to $365/st ($13.04/unit) DEL for UAN-28 and $425/st ($13.28/unit) DEL for UAN-32.
Western Canada: UAN-28 was quoted at $404-$407/mt ($14.43-$14.56/unit) DEL in Manitoba, $407-$410/mt ($14.56-$14.64/unit) DEL in Saskatchewan, and $410-$419/mt ($14.64-$14.96/unit) DEL in Alberta.