Central Florida: Along with most of the U.S., the eastern portion of the country continued to suffer under drought conditions last week, but the region was faring much better than the Midwest. Georgia was the hardest hit, according to the U.S. Drought Monitor, with drought conditions there ranging from extreme to exceptional.
The drought has put a damper on phosphate sales, at least on a spot basis, but that has not been a problem for producers, who had low inventories anyway.
PotashCorp’s White Springs facility, which produces MAP in northern Florida, had returned to normal production levels last week after being shut down in late June due to flooding and a power outage during Tropical Storm Debby. MAP shipments had resumed.
The DAP price for Central Florida was unchanged last week at a flat $500/st FOB. Both CF and Mosaic were listed at $500/st FOB. MAP continued to sell at a $20/st premium to DAP in Central Florida, about the same difference as from traders. PCS Sales was selling at prices comparable to the market.
U.S. Gulf: Some portions of the Midwest, including parts of Wisconsin, Illinois, and Indiana, received rain last week, but the damage to crops in drought-stricken areas was already significant.
Nearly the entire country was experiencing some stage of drought in late July, according to the July 24 U.S. Drought Monitor, with conditions ranging from abnormally dry to exceptional drought. Only Washington, Maine, and Florida were relatively drought-free last week.
To further complicate the situation, low water levels on the Lower Mississippi River made it difficult – if not impossible – to unload NOLA DAP barges. The low water levels were forcing some owners of NOLA phosphate barges to make a choice between paying demurrage fees or selling the product to someone with an upriver loading site at low prices. That had a significant impact on the price range.
One trader who was looking to get out of paying demurrage got rid of a NOLA DAP barge at $500/st FOB. Transactions on the Arkansas River, however, were done as high as $512/st FOB.
Prices for 2012 corn futures were mixed last week compared to the previous week, although all prices remain quite high. The corn price for December was $7.8375/bushel, down slightly from $7.8675/bushel a week earlier. The corn price for December 2013 was $6.23/bushel, increasing from $6.1875/bushel the previous reporting period. For November 2012, soybeans fell to $15.985/bushel from $16.52/bushel the previous week, and beans for November 2013 dropped to $12.6625/bushel from $13.135/bushel a week earlier. Wheat for July 2013 fell to $8.1125/bushel from $8.32/bushel the week before, and wheat for July 2014 was listed at $7.4475/bushel last week, down from $7.465/bushel the previous week.
Mississippi Phosphates was running last week, and the plan was for most of its output to go into the domestic market. MAP was said to be in short supply last week, and prices for both OCP brown and domestic were running around $535/st FOB.
The prompt NOLA DAP barge price for the week meandered a bit and hit a range of $500-$512/st FOB, which was unchanged from the previous week. MAP was running $25-$35/st FOB higher than DAP, with several deals done at $535-$538/st FOB.
Eastern Cornbelt: DAP was pegged at $545-$565/st FOB regional warehouses, with MAP quoted at $560-$580/st. An Indiana source reported booking fall tons recently at $558/st DEL for DAP and $565/st FOB for MAP.
Several sources said they had ordered quite of bit of their fall tonnage, but, as one Indiana source said, dealers are “not filling to the level we would if we didn’t have crop troubles.” Uncertainties remain about the fall fertilizer season.
10-34-0 was quoted at $535-$555/st FOB in the reg