All posts by hlancey@bloomberg.net

Sulfur

ADNOC - Abu Dhabi, Alberta, Brazil, China, Market Watch, Qatar, Sulfur, Tampa, U.S. Gulf, Vancouver, West Coast

Tampa:

Tampa molten sulfur contracts were valued at $76/lt CFR for the third quarter, a $5/lt decline from $81/lt CFR in 2Q.

US Gulf:

US Gulf prices were unchanged at $80-$85/mt FOB. Based on the rising Brazil market, players expect prices to lift into the $90-$95/mt FOB range in the next round of business.

Brazil:

The CMOC tender reportedly closed at $119/mt CFR, a 15.5% increase from the prior $103/mt CFR level.

Vancouver:   

Vancouver prills continued in the $80-$86/mt FOB range.

Alberta:

Estimated Alberta netbacks were steady at (-)$39-$6/mt FOB, and included both molten sulfur cargoes contracted into the US market and prilled tons exported through the Vancouver market.

West Coast:

West Coast solid sulfur cargoes continued at $80-$86/mt FOB. Negotiations for the third-quarter contract price of molten sulfur concluded at a flat $58/lt FOB, sources noted, down from $60-$62/lt FOB in the second quarter.

China:

China sulfur prices remained at the week-ago $122-$125/mt CFR level. With phosphate producers in China continuing to offer product for export, players expect phosphate production rates to remain healthy through the near term.

ADNOC:

Abu Dhabi National Oil Co. (ADNOC) solid sulfur postings were noted at $82/mt FOB Ruwais for July, a slight increase from $80/mt FOB in June.

Qatar:

Sources reported July Muntajat prices at $81/mt FOB Ras Laffan, up $2/mt from June’s $79/mt FOB price. A selling tender announced by Muntajat was expected to draw bids around the $95/mt FOB mark, players said.

Ammonium Thiosulfate

Amthio, Eastern Cornbelt, Market Watch, South Central, Southern Plains, Western Cornbelt

Eastern Cornbelt:

The ammonium thiosulfate market remained at $300-$315/st FOB for the last confirmed offers in the Eastern Cornbelt, with the low reported in Indiana and the high at Cincinnati.

Western Cornbelt:

Ammonium thiosulfate was unchanged at $280-$305/st FOB in the Western Cornbelt, depending on location.

Southern Plains:

Ammonium thiosulfate prices continued at $235-$240/st FOB for the latest offers in the Southern Plains.

South Central:

Ammonium thiosulfate pricing edged up slightly, to $300-$310/st FOB Memphis from the prior $295-$300/st FOB range.

CAN

CAN, Germany, Market Watch

Germany:

The German CAN market remains seasonally muted, with a few small spot sales reported in the existing €265-€270/mt CIF range. The timing of the next window of demand will be highly weather-dependent, with rain having the potential to delay both the harvest and subsequent buying interest for the next applications.

Crops/Weather

Crops/Weather, Eastern Cornbelt, Market Watch, South Central, Southeast, Southern Plains, Western Cornbelt

Eastern Cornbelt:

US Drought Monitor

Separate storms on July 14 and July 15 caused widespread damage and power outages across northern Illinois and northwestern Indiana. Multiple tornadoes were reported, while 70 mph wind gusts knocked out power to thousands of customers. The National Weather Service was still investigating at least two dozen potential tornado paths at midweek.

Cooler weather was reported in Ohio and Michigan as the week progressed, with a chance of weekend showers.

Good or excellent ratings were assigned to 73% of the corn and soybeans in Illinois on July 14, compared with 67% in Indiana and 64-67% in Ohio. Michigan’s corn crop was 72% good or excellent, with 62% of the state’s soybean crop falling into those two categories.

Western Cornbelt:

A line of strong storms in central and eastern Iowa on July 15 produced at least one tornado and left thousands without power. The Storm Prediction Center later called the storm a derecho, with top winds estimated at 97 mph in Dubuque County.

Heavy rain hit southern Missouri at midweek, producing flash floods and prompting evacuations in some areas. Seven inches fell in less than six hours in Branson, Mo., causing Turkey Creek at Hollister, Mo., just south of Branson, to rise 12 feet in two hours.

USDA rated 74-79% of the corn and 72-77% of the soybeans as good or excellent in the region on July 14. Good or excellent ratings were also assigned to 60% of Missouri’s cotton and 79% of the state’s rice crop, along with 78% of Nebraska’s sorghum crop.

Southern Plains:

Kansas and Oklahoma residents enjoyed cooler temperatures for most of the week, with highs topping out in the 80s. Forecasts warned of potentially strong thunderstorms over the coming weekend in both states, however.

Lower temperatures were also reported throughout Texas during the week, along with spotty thundershowers in northern areas of the state. Heavy rain was reported in New Mexico as the week progressed, while eastern Colorado saw slightly cooler temperatures after record heat the previous weekend, when highs exceeded 105 degrees in some areas of the state.

Corn Wheat Soybean Index

Severe-to-extreme drought conditions were reported across a wide swath of southern New Mexico and western Texas in mid-July, with small areas of moderate-to-severe drought popping up in northern New Mexico, central Oklahoma, and central Kansas.

Crop conditions varied widely in the region. Corn in the good or excellent categories totaled 61% of the crop in Kansas, 54% in Colorado, and 42% in Texas, while 76% of the soybeans in Kansas fell into those two categories. While 76% of Oklahoma’s cotton was rated as good or excellent at mid-month, just 34% of the Texas crop came in with those ratings, along with 64% of the acreage in Kansas.

Sorghum rated as good or excellent totaled 61% of the crop in Oklahoma, 55-57% in Kansas and Texas, and 47% in Colorado.

South Central:

Flash flood emergencies were declared in central and northern Arkansas at midweek after torrential rains hit the region on July 17. News reports said 6-11 inches of rain fell in just five hours, resulting in evacuations in some areas as rivers and streams rose dramatically.

Parts of Middle Tennessee and southern Kentucky also collected some needed rain showers at midweek, ushering in cooler temperatures after intense heat the previous weekend. Southern Louisiana was bracing for 2-4 inches of rain late in the week and over the coming weekend.

USDA rated 56-63% of the corn in Tennessee and Kentucky as good or excellent on July 14, while soybeans in those two categories totaled 62% of the acreage in Tennessee, 63% in Mississippi, 64% in Kentucky, 73% in Arkansas, and 85% in Louisiana.

Fully 93% of Louisiana’s cotton crop was rated as good or excellent at mid-month, compared with 81% in Arkansas and 49-50% in Mississippi and Tennessee. Rice in the good or excellent categories totaled 89% of the acreage in Louisiana, 75% in Arkansas and Texas, and 60% in Mississippi.

Southeast:

Much of the Southeast was bracing for an extended period of wet weather in the second half of July, thanks to a stalled-out cold front that brought heavy rain to parts of the Southwest and South Central region during the week.

Thunderstorms moved through parts of North Carolina and Virginia on July 18, triggering severe thunderstorm watches that warned of large hail and wind gusts up to 70 mph. A wide swath of the Carolinas, Georgia, and Virginia were preparing for 2-5 inches of rain by the weekend, with 1-3 inches possible across Florida.

Earlier drought conditions have taken a toll on crops in the Southeast. Just 9% of North Carolina’s corn was rated as good or excellent on July 14, with 73% of the crop rated as poor or very poor. North Carolina’s soybeans were 26% good or excellent and 31% poor or very poor on that date.

Cotton in the good or excellent categories totaled 40-41% of the crop in the Carolinas and 57-58% in Alabama, Georgia, and Virginia. The peanut crop was slightly better, with good or excellent ratings assigned to 50-55% of the acreage in the Carolina, 58% in Georgia, 63% in Florida, 77% in Alabama, and 79% in Virginia.

Transportation

Arkansas River, Illinois River, Market Watch, Mississippi RIver, Ohio River, Transportation, U.S. Gulf

US Gulf:

Port Allen Lock will close to navigation from July 30 through Aug. 3 and again on Aug. 12-15 for miter gate repair. The lock was completely shut for nearly one month following a March 28 miter gate hinge anchorage failure. Travel through the Louisiana Highway 1 Bridge will be unavailable from 8 p.m. on July 20 through 4 a.m. on July 21, sources said.

Guidewall repairs underway at Bayou Sorrel Lock are scheduled to run through Oct. 30, slowing travel from 7 a.m. to 4 p.m. daily. Delays were quoted up to 37 hours during the week, increasing from 30 hours at last report.

Brazos Lock repairs restricted weekday movements between 7 a.m. and 7 p.m. Most delays topped out around the six-hour mark, according to Corps data, though a handful of tows waited up to 10.5 hours to pass the site. The project is slated to run through October.

Repairs to the Houston area’s San Jacinto River Bridge will continue through at least July, sources said. Traffic is limited to single-width configurations through the western side of the channel, while the channel’s eastern side is completely closed to navigation.

Port Allen Lock waits were quoted up to 14 hours, and tows waited up to 32 hours to pass Industrial Lock. Algiers Lock transits topped out above the five-hour mark on July 17, according to Corps data, and intermittent 5-17 hour delays were noted at Colorado Lock. Sources noted a handful of 5-10 hour waits at Brazos Lock.

Mississippi River:

High water levels on the Mississippi River since late June were improving during the week.

The river gauge at St. Louis was forecast to fall below the 28-foot action stage on July 19. Locks 12-13 and 16-17 were projected to reopen from high-water closures on July 19 or 20, while Lock 20 reportedly returned to service on July 16. Sources said tow sizes continued to be reduced by approximately 20% at Miles 0-200 of the upper river, however.

Farther north, the St. Paul, Minn., gauge fell below that area’s 10-foot action stage on July 16, while the Minnesota River gauge at Savage, Minn., was posted at an action-stage 700.4 feet and falling on July 18. Levels at Savage were projected to move below action stage on July 24.

Work at Mile 759 of the lower river triggered southbound closures from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. daily. The project is anticipated to run through Sept. 18. Travel was unavailable through the Fort Madison Bridge between 9 a.m. and 2 p.m. on July 14. The closures are scheduled to repeat on July 28 and Aug. 1.

Lock 21 will shut to daytime navigation on Aug. 13, sources said. On the Cumberland River, Old Hickory Lock is offline through Aug. 1 for hydraulic line replacement. Old Hickory was previously closed to daytime travel on June 10-27.

Illinois River:

Shoaling blocked travel at Mile 88 of the Illinois River during the week, sources said. Dredging was expected to begin on July 18 or 19 in the hope of reopening the channel on July 20. Maximum loading drafts continued at 9.5 feet for Miles 1-231 and 9.0 feet above Mile 231.

Dresden Island Lock is slated to close to navigation on July 24 from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. for a control systems upgrade, according to a Corps posting.

Ohio River:

Towing reductions continued on the Ohio River due to low water levels. Drafts were reduced 5-10% depending on location and direction of travel

McAlpine Lock is closed to downriver travel from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. through Nov. 30, with delays reported up to 13 hours. The Markland Lock main chamber is offline for 19 hours daily through Aug. 2, forcing detours through the secondary chamber. The closures are scheduled to repeat on Aug. 12 through Sept. 6.

The primary chamber at Hannibal Lock is shut for miter gate repairs through Nov. 8, forcing 10-24 hour waits.

The John T. Myers Lock main chamber is scheduled to close from Aug. 21 through Nov. 9. A similar outage in October 2023 produced four-day delays. Belleville Lock will undergo alternating 30-day main and auxiliary chamber shutdowns before the end of the year.

Daily shutdowns were reported at the Tennessee River’s Kentucky Lock from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. through July 24 for gate fender replacement, triggering waits up to 15 hours. Daily Wilson Lock closures slated to end on July 18 also blocked daytime travel, resulting in delays as high as 22 hours. The shutdowns at Wilson Lock are scheduled to repeat on July 22 through Aug. 8.

Arkansas River:

Van Buren Bridge repairs were reportedly shortened to Aug. 22-Sept. 8 from Aug 16.-Sept. 8, and will completely close the site to navigation. The Corps is said to be planning a single bridge opening to pass queued vessels sometime after the ninth day of work. Webbers Falls Lock is scheduled to shut from Aug. 26 through Sept. 8 for miter gate inspection.