August pricing for phos acid was quoted at $13.50-$14.00/unit rail-DEL in California, unchanged from July, with MGA referenced at $14.20/unit FOB Lathrop.

Pacific Northwest:

Thephos acid market remained at $13.50/unit FOB Pocatello, Idaho, and $13.50-$14.00/unit rail-DEL for August tons in the Pacific Northwest, depending on supplier.

India:

India phosphoric acid contracts were reported at $1,715/mt P2O5 CFR for the second and third quarters, a $185/mt rise from $1,530/mt P2O5 CFR in 1Q.

Ammonium Polyphosphate

August 19, 2022Ammonium Polyphosphate, California, Eastern Cornbelt, Market Watch, Pacific N.W., Western Canada, Western Cornbeltmickeybarb@charter.net

Eastern Cornbelt:

10-34-0 pricing was unchanged at $665-$675/st FOB in the Eastern Cornbelt, with the high confirmed for fill offers at inland Ohio locations.

Western Cornbelt:

10-34-0 prices were pegged at the $665/st FOB level in the Western Cornbelt for fill tons.

California:

The 10-34-0 market continued at $678-$683/st FOB in California, while the 11-37-0 market remained at $743/st FOB El Centro for August tons.

Pacific Northwest:

10-34-0 pricing was steady at $675/st FOB Hedges, Wash. 11-37-0 postings remained at $725/st FOB Hedges and $705/st DEL in Idaho.

Western Canada:

10-34-0 pricing in Western Canada remained at C$935-$950/mt DEL for the last reported fill offers.

PhosAgro First-Half Profits Up 162.2%

August 19, 2022Earnings, News, Nitrogen, Phosphate, Russiamickeybarb@charter.net

PhosAgro, Moscow, reported that first-half net profit was up 165.2%, to RUB129.05 billion from the year-ago RUB48.7 billion. Revenue was RUB336.5 billion (US$4.4 billion), up from RUB176.3 billion, while adjusted EBITDA was RUB165.3 billion (US$2.2 billion), up from RUB73.9 billion.

Total fertilizer production volumes were up 5.2%, to 5.32 million mt from the year-ago 5.06 million mt, while sales volumes were up 10.2%, to 5.7 million mt from 5.16 million mt.

Phosphate-based production was up 6%, to 4.05 million mt from 3.82 million mt, while sales climbed 15.8% to 4.34 million mt from 3.74 million mt. Nitrogen-based production was up 2.8%, to 1.27 million mt from 1.23 million mt, while sales volumes were off 4.7%, to 1.35 million mt from 1.41 million mt.

Muriate of Potash

August 19, 2022Brazil, California, Eastern Cornbelt, Market Watch, Pacific N.W., Potash Muriate, South Korea, U.S. Gulf, Western Canada, Western Cornbeltmickeybarb@charter.net

U.S. Gulf:

NOLA potash barges continued to slip, with new trades reported as low as $670/st FOB, if not lower. A $665/st FOB could not be confirmed at press time. The range for the week stood at $670-$680/st FOB, down from last week’s $675-$695/st FOB.

Eastern Cornbelt:

Potash pricing remained at $740-$760/st FOB in the Eastern Cornbelt, with both the high and low reported at Cincinnati. In the Great Lakes region, new offers FOB Toledo were confirmed at $763/st FOB for August-September and $780/st FOB for October-November.

Western Cornbelt:

Potash continued to be quoted at $720-$760/st FOB in the Western Cornbelt, with the upper end confirmed in the Iowa market. St. Louis potash prices were pegged at $720-$740/st FOB at mid-month.

California:

Potash pricing in California remained at $875-$890/st FOB for 60% MOP and $895-$910/st FOB for 62%.

Pacific Northwest:

Potash pricing was steady at $845-$865/st FOB in the Pacific Northwest, with the low for 60% and the high for 62% MOP. The last reference prices from Intrepid FOB Moab and Wendover, Utah, included $850/st for 60% white standard and $855/st for 60% white granular.

Western Canada:

Sources quoted potash pricing at C$990-$1,020/mt FOB Saskatchewan mines for truck tons, depending on grade and supplier.

Brazil:

MOP prices shifted moderately to $850-$900/mt CFR. The slight movement down has not deterred sources from saying the floor in the market has been reached. The Rondonopolis price, for all practical purposes, has stabilized at $1,010-$1.035/mt FOB ex-warehouse.

South Korea:

Imports of MOP for January-July 2022 were reported at 377,000 mt by Trade Data Monitor. This is down about a quarter from the 504,000 mt imported during the same period in 2021.

July 2022 imports were reported at 7,000 mt, all from Laos, down from the 113,000 mt imported during July 2021.

Sulfur

August 19, 2022ADNOC - Abu Dhabi, Alberta, Brazil, China, Qatar, Sulfur, Texas, U.S. Gulf, Vancouver, West Coastmickeybarb@charter.net

Tampa:

Contracts for molten sulfur delivered to Tampa were pegged at $352/lt CFR for the third quarter, down $129/lt from $481/lt CFR in the second quarter.

US refinery utilization moved down for the week ending Aug. 12, according to the Energy Information Administration (EIA). Operable capacity stood at 93.5% for the week, a 0.8-point decline from the prior week’s 94.3%, but above both the year-ago 92.2% and the 91.9% five-year average.

Daily crude inputs softened to an average 16.423 million barrels/d, down 158,000 barrels/d from the prior week’s16.581 million barrels/d rate.

U.S. Gulf:

Marathon on Aug. 11 restarted production at a 145,000 barrel/d fluidic catalytic cracking unit (FCC) at the company’s Galveston Bay, Texas, refinery, Genscape reported. The unit suffered an unplanned shutdown on Aug. 7 due to a reported equipment malfunction.

ExxonMobil Corp. on Aug. 14 successfully restarted the 97,000 barrel/d Pipestill 8 crude distillation unit (CDU) and a 44,000 barrel/d vacuum distillation unit (VDU) at the ExxonMobil refinery in Baton Rouge, La. The units were reported going offline on Aug. 2.

A 55,000 barrel/d hydrotreater was taken offline on Aug. 14 at the Valero Corpus Christi (East), Texas, refining facility following a bout of flaring reported on Aug. 12. The unit was noted successfully restarting on the morning of Aug. 15.

The Citgo Lake Charles, La., plant restarted a 60,000 barrel/d catalytic reformer on Aug. 13, Genscape indicated. The unit was reported going offline on Aug. 5.

Last-done out of the U.S. Gulf continued to be heard in the $10-$50/mt FOB range, steady from one week earlier.

Brazil:

Brazil spot offers continued to be heard in the $90s/mt CFR. With consumers reportedly maintaining plenty of inventory for now, bids were heard to remain steady around the $50/mt CFR level.

Vancouver:

Vancouver spot was noted climbing to $65-$70/mt FOB for the week based on firmer pricing out of China. The market was previously reported at $60-$65/mt FOB.

Alberta:

Alberta sulfur netbacks lifted to (-)$5-$282/mt FOB from (-)$10-$282/mt FOB due to rising Vancouver levels. The wide spread included both prilled material selling through the Vancouver export market and molten tons contracted into the US.

West Coast:

Chevron Corp. on Aug. 12 restarted a 257,000 barrel/d CDU and an associated 124,000 barrel/d VDU at the company’s refinery in Richmond, Calif., according to Genscape, following a mid-June shutdown for planned maintenance. A 65,000 barrel/d hydrotreater was restarted on Aug. 14, while an activity increase was observed from a 40,000 barrel/d catalytic reformer the same day.

West Coast prills were indicated in the $65-$70/mt FOB range, $5/mt above the prior week’s level. Molten tons loading from the West Coast were reported in the $370-$385/lt FOB range for delivery in the third quarter, falling from $375-$390/lt FOB in 3Q.

China:

A rash of unplanned refinery shutdowns from both state-operated oil companies and independent “teapot” refiners combined to drive China refinery output to a two-year low in July, according to China’s National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) and reported by Reuters.

July throughput was reported at an average 12.53 million barrels/d, an 8.8% year-over-year decline and off from 13.37 million barrels/d in June. For the January-July period, throughput was reported at an average 13.09 million barrels/d, down 6.3% compared to the same period in 2021.

Long production outages from the 320,000 barrel/d Sinopec facility in Shanghai and PetroChina’s 200,000 barrel/d Wepec plant were cited as primary contributors to the falling numbers.

Market players described import pricing at China moving to $105-$110/mt CFR in recent trading, up from $95-$100/mt CFR at last report. Some argued the market may have reached a measure of near-term stability around the $110/mt CFR level.

ADNOC:

Abu Dhabi National Oil Co. prills were offered at $85/mt FOB Ruwais for August, sources said. July offers were reported at $428/mt FOB, an 80% decline.

Qatar:

Muntajat solid sulfur was heard at $77/mt FOB Ras Laffan for August, down 82% from $428/mt FOB in July.

Sulfuric Acid

August 19, 2022Brazil, Gulf Coast, Market Watch, Midwest, Sulfuric Acid, U.S. Gulf, West Coastmickeybarb@charter.net

U.S. Gulf:

No changes were reported in the Gulf import sulfuric acid market, leaving price ideas at $260-$270/mt CFR. Sources generally predicted lower values in the next round of business.

Gulf Coast:

Market players reported 2022 Gulf Coast sulacid contracts in a wide $195-$280/st DEL range.

Midwest:

Midwest deliveries were reported even with the Gulf Coast at $195-$280/st DEL for annual agreements.

West Coast:

Sulacid delivered to West Coast locations was valued in the $185-$270/st DEL range for the full 2022 contract year.

Brazil:

With no new business reported, Brazil sulacid pricing continued at $270-$280/mt CFR for the week.

Ammonium Thiosulfate

August 19, 2022Amthio, California, Eastern Cornbelt, Market Watch, Pacific N.W., Specialty, Western Canada, Western Cornbeltmickeybarb@charter.net

Eastern Cornbelt:

Ammonium thiosulfate remained in a broad range in the Eastern Cornbelt, with the low quoted at $400-$425/st FOB Cincinnati and the high at $600/st FOB for the last confirmed offers at Terre Haute, Ind.

Western Cornbelt:

The ammonium thiosulfate market in Eastern Canada covered a wide range, with the low reported at $425-$435/st FOB for spot fill ton offers and the high at $600/st FOB for the last confirmed pricing at Waterloo, Iowa.

California:

The ammonium thiosulfate market remained at $530-$550/st FOB in California.

Pacific Northwest:

The last reported prices for ammonium thiosulfate were quoted at $535-$550/st FOB in the Pacific Northwest, depending on supplier and location. No current delivered offers were confirmed in the region.

Western Canada:

Ammonium thiosulfate prices were confirmed at the C$495/mt DEL level for recent offers in Saskatchewan, up C$10/mt from last report.