U.S. Gulf/Tampa: Sources last week were calling ammonia supplies tight, suggesting that the July Tampa number would move up. In addition, Black Sea numbers have also been firming. However, the outage at the Miss Phos plant in Pascagoula will take at least some ammonia demand off the table. Sources are closely watching to see how long the facility will be offline.
Over at NOLA, the market really was tight, with new barge trades reported in the $582-$592/st FOB range. There was certainly a little less ammonia in NOLA in the past week as the CF complex went down due to a storm and electrical outage May 31. However, all CF units at Donaldsonville were expected back up by June 8.
In the meantime, there was more good news for producers as forward month gas prices continue to retreat, with July closing at $2.274/mmBtu June 7, down from the week-ago $2.422/mmBtu.
Eastern Cornbelt: Ammonia movement was described by one source as “dead” out of regional terminals last week. The most recent prompt sales continued to be reported in the $680-$730/st FOB range in Illinois and up to $740/st FOB in Indiana and Ohio. There were reports that July prices for summer fill tons out of Illinois terminals were listed as low as $640-$650/st FOB, however.
Western Cornbelt: Ammonia movement was over in the region. The anhydrous ammonia market was flat at $625-$660/st FOB regional terminals, with the upper end out of spot Iowa locations. The market out of Nebraska terminals was pegged in the $625-$640/st FOB range last week. Delivered ammonia in central Missouri was quoted at $640/st from southern production points.
Although some sections of southern Missouri received rain in early June, drought conditions were worsening in much of the state. Drought conditions also expanded in western Nebraska and central and eastern Iowa last week. Extension agents in Iowa and Missouri reported curling corn leaves, stunted or no root growth, and soybean emergence problems in early June, with rapid crop deterioration expected in the next several weeks if rains continue to be sparse.
Southern Plains: Ammonia pricing in the Southern Plains remained at $570-$580/st FOB regional production points, and $600/st FOB Kansas pipeline terminals. Some sources said they expect some more aggressive fill numbers to be offered soon.
Dry weather allowed the winter wheat harvest to progress at a rapid pace in early June, but it also worsened drought conditions and prevented some growers from planting double crop soybeans and finishing cotton planting. One Kansas source said conditions in his area have gone from “pretty dry to extremely dry” in the last several weeks, and corn growers south of Kansas City, Mo., down to the Oklahoma line are in danger of losing their crop if rains don’t come in the next week to ten days.
South Central: The only quote reported for anhydrous ammonia in the South Central region was $690/st FOB Memphis for the last done business, but sources reported minimal new business to test the market and very little corn left to sidedress in the region.
Storms brought some overdue precipitation to Arkansas early in the week, but drought conditions worsened in Kentucky. Local reports also talked of strong storms in northern Mississippi early in the week, with reports of damaging winds and large hail in some locations.
Arkansas sources referred a band of moisture that settled over parts of the state on June 3-4 as a “multi-million dollar rain,” with two-day precipitation totals ranging from less than a half inch to three inches in central, northwestern, and southeastern Arkansas. The precipitation came after a lengthy dry spell that was starting to stress crops in Missouri and parts of Arkansas.