U.S. Gulf:
Ammonium sulfate barge prices continued to move up, with product in very tight supply. The market was called $285-$300/st FOB, up from last week’s $280-$290/st FOB.
Eastern Cornbelt:
AdvanSix on June 7 raised its granular ammonium sulfate prices by $20/st in the Midwest and Plains region, to $305/st FOB river terminals for tons available after July 1, with inland warehouses priced at a traditional spread to the river. Sources reported prompt tons at $320-$335/st FOB on the Illinois River and $350/st FOB Cincinnati.
Western Cornbelt:
Ammonium sulfate prices strengthened to $305-$350/st FOB in the Western Cornbelt, with the low reflecting new river terminal pricing from AdvanSix on June 7, and the high reported at Sioux City, Iowa.
Sources pegged the St. Louis market firmly at the $320/st FOB level at midweek, with reports of Upper Mississippi River terminals at the $335/st FOB mark.
California:
Ammonium sulfate prices ranged from $305-$335/st FOB in California, depending on grade and location, with IRM referenced at the $318/st level FOB Chico and Woodland for WesternStandard. Rail-DEL tons were quoted at $320-$345/st in the state, with the low for fine grade and the high for granular.
Pacific Northwest:
Reference prices for ammonium sulfate in the Pacific Northwest were up $25-$30/st from last report, to $330/st FOB or DEL for standard and $363/st FOB or DEL for granular.
Western Canada:
Ammonium sulfate prices were quoted in the C$510-$515/mt DEL range in Western Canada, with continued reports of tight inventories.
China:
Domestic demand for ammonium sulfate is pushing the price higher for local buyers. Sources said the export-equivalent price should be about $180/mt FOB, but exporters are not getting that price.
Sources said sales to Southeast Asian buyers are showing netbacks still in the $160s/mt FOB. The price has moved up in the past week to cover a range of $160-$170/mt FOB. Sellers are still pushing to gain higher prices from their international buyers, but there is a lot of push-back against these new levels.
Buyers are primarily looking to ammonium sulfate as a substitute to the ever-more-expensive urea in blending operations.
Brazil:
The price of granular ammonium sulfate at Paranagua has moved up to $250-$255/mt CFR. Some of the increase is attributed to increased freight rates from China, still Brazil’s main supplier, but also to increased demand by blenders looking for substitutes for urea.
The push by blenders inland became starkly clear when prices in Rondonopolis jumped to $355-$430/mt FOB ex-warehouse. The upper end of the range represents an almost $80/mt increase from last report.
Imports for the January-May period this year were reported at 1.4 million mt by Trade Data Monitor, up 31 percent from the 1.05 million mt imported during the same period last year. May 2021 imports were down about 10 percent, to 115,000 mt from 128,000 mt in May 2020.