Central Florida:
Central Florida phosphate prices continued at $570/st FOB for DAP and $620/st FOB for MAP. The North Florida MAP price was steady at $630/st FOB.
US Gulf:
Phosphate trading was limited due to the holiday-shortened week. DAP barges softened $10/st to $535-$545/st FOB, players said, while MAP held steady at $645-$650/st FOB.
US Exports:
DAP exports continued at $550/mt FOB for the latest business. With no spot transactions reported in recent months, MAP pricing remained at the $570/mt FOB level.
Eastern Cornbelt:
DAP slipped to $585-$620/st FOB in the Eastern Cornbelt, down from last week’s $600-$630/st FOB, with the low reported out of spot Illinois River terminals. The Cincinnati DAP market was quoted at $605-$610/st FOB, below last week’s $610-$620/st FOB.
MAP prices firmed to $675-$695/st FOB in the region, with both the high and low reported at Cincinnati in a “very snug market.” The latest MAP offers at Ottawa and LaSalle, Ill., were quoted firmly at the $695/st FOB level.
Western Cornbelt:
DAP dropped to $590-$620/st FOB in the Western Cornbelt, with the low reported at St. Louis. MAP remained at $670-$690/st FOB in the region, with the St. Louis market quoted at the $670-$680/st FOB level in early July.
California:
MAP slipped to $760-$790/st FOB or DEL for the latest offers in California.
Pacific Northwest:
MAP in the Pacific Northwest dropped to $740-$750/st FOB or DEL, down from the last prompt business in the $770-$780/st range.
Western Canada:
MAP was pegged at the C$1,040/mt DEL level in Western Canada for July-August shipments.
Baltic:
DAP prices in the Baltic firmed to $485-$605/mt FOB during the week, in line with increases from other origins. The low end reflected netbacks achieved by Russian producers on non-European business, while the high end represented returns achieved by the Lithuanian supplier on sales into Western Europe.
MAP prices in the Baltic were stable at $565-$575/mt FOB, reflecting unchanged Brazilian CFR levels as the recent wave of buying began tapering off.
Benelux:
DAP prices in Benelux were stable at €615-€620/mt FCA, translating to $660-$665/mt FCA at midweek exchange rates. While prices have responded to the bullish momentum in international markets, prompt demand in Western Europe is seasonally limited and can be covered by existing stocks, suggesting a cap to any further price increases.
Morocco:
The Moroccan producer continues to target European DAP sales, which have yielded netbacks as high as $615/mt FOB due to limited availability in the region, pushing the regional DAP market up to $500-$615/mt FOB. In terms of exports, January-April Moroccan DAP exports totaled 1.2 million mt, up 35% from the same period last year.
China:
Export inspections for DAP are taking longer to complete than usual, sources reported. While the process normally requires 10 days, one trader reported that buyers are now expecting as much as a 30-day delay in receiving their lots for export.
No large export cargoes are being reported out of China. All of the tons cleared so far – and the ones currently being inspected – were described as sub-10,000 mt lots to be shipped in containers.
No new pricing has surfaced, leaving the market’s last public business in the low-$520s/mt FOB. Sources used a recent $600/mt CFR deal from Australia to the US to calculate what the price might be had the cargo come from China, however. After subtracting freight and handling and then calculating the freight cost differences for a China-US sale, sources estimated a netback to China in the $540s/mt FOB.
One source clarified that while the price makes sense in the current market, nothing has yet been done out of China at that level.
India:
The recent DAP tenders held by Rashtriya Chemicals and Fertilizers Ltd. (RCF) and National Fertilizers Ltd. (NFL) appear to have been scrapped.
More than a week after the tenders closed, sources said no information has been released regarding either the number of participating companies or the prices that were offered. In the past, silence such as this led traders to infer that only one or two companies participated in the tender, and that the prices offered were significantly higher than what the Indian buyers were willing to accept.
Brazil:
Reduced supply in several regions continued to pressure prices, as did the dollar’s recent strength. The current July lineup is expected total less than 500,000 mt, a decline from previous years, though the total could fluctuate in the coming weeks due to possible transshipments caused by high wait times at ports.
MAP imports continued at $620-$630/mt CFR into Brazil. With limited volumes available, prices were expected to increase to $640/mt CFR in the near term. Rondonópolis prices firmed to $760-$790/mt FOB, rising from $745-$780/mt FOB at last report.