More details of the RCF tender that closed March 30 were released Monday morning, April 6. The awards to nine companies, including producer Muntajat, come to 800,000 mt. The agreed-to prices are $251.90/mt CFR for the West Coast, $257.65/mt CFR for the East Coast and $239.40/mt FOB from Muntajat. The bulk of the awards – 710,000 mt – will go to the East Coast, leaving sources to speculate the bulk of the material will be from China. The ship-by deadline is May 5.

Initial reports from India show that 800,000 mt have been awarded in the RCF urea tender that closed on March 30. Sources said the final amount could still change. Letters of intent are expected to be issued Monday, April 6. The total amount offered in the tender was about 1.7 million mt.

Prompt granular urea barge prices are moving up this week, with players saying they started in the $250s/st FOB and have quickly shot up to the $270/st FOB mark. They were moving up even before USDA came out with a projected 97 million acres of corn on Tuesday, as there have been fears that wet weather will hamper ammonia use.

Corn futures dropped today after the USDA said farmers will plant 97 million acres of corn, up from 89.7 million last year. The average analyst estimate for 2020 was 94.1 million, according to Bloomberg. In addition, a crash in the ethanol market, which typically consumes a third of the corn harvest, has raised concerns about demand.

Plateau Energy Metals Inc., Toronto, reports that it has entered into a nonbinding Memorandum of Understanding with Swiss-based Ameropa AG for cooperation on the potential production, marketing and future offtake of potassium sulfate (SOP) from the Falchani Project in Peru. The SOP would be a byproduct from the Falchani lithium extraction project. A Peru and South America SOP market study is currently underway.

Rashtriya Chemicals and Fertilizers Ltd. closed its urea tender in the midst of a nation-wide shutdown to combat COVID-19. As of early Monday morning Eastern Time only offering companies and tonnage were made available by RCF. Ten trading houses and one producer offered a total of 1.7 million tons. This total is low compared the January 2020 MMTC tender when 2.6 million tons were offered and the November 2019 RCF tender when 5.15 million tons were offered.

Israel Chemicals Ltd. said March 25 that potash mining operations in Spain as well as the ramp project in the country have been recently halted out of concern for the health of employees and in accordance with the instructions of the authorities. It said that as of March 25 the capacity curtailment is immaterial to the company’s business.

ICL said manufacturing continues at company sites around the world, including its operations in China, which is at full capacity.

The Mosaic Co., citing the rapidly changing environment, released a special update March 25 reporting that certain of its operational facilities have been impacted by the COVID-19 situation—Miski Mayo in Peru, distribution operations in India and the Patrocinio Mine in Brazil.

In market related news, the company said Canpotex negotiations with China are underway with an expected resolution in early second quarter, with the negotiations expected to set a bottom.

On a positive note, Mosaic is expecting strong demand in North America and Brazil.

The Tampa ammonia price continues at $250/mt CFR for April, the fifth roll over since November.

India is now in lock down due to COVID-19, with the ports imposing a 14-day quarantine on shipping vessels arriving from countries affected by the virus. In addition, some ports have declared force majeure. On a more positive note, fertilizer is deemed an essential product and freight trains continue to operate though passenger service has been suspended.

The lock down’s impact on the current 1 million mt urea tender remains unclear, though a slowdown in shipments at the ports would be expected.