AMMONIA
U.S. Gulf/Tampa: Players began negotiations for Tampa business last week; however, nothing new was reported at press time.
Eastern Cornbelt: Anhydrous ammonia pricing remained in the $665-$685/st range FOB regional terminals depending on location and time of delivery, with the low quoted in Illinois and the upper end in the Indiana market.
Western Cornbelt: Ammonia pricing remained in the $640-$660/st range FOB regional terminals, with delivered tons from southern production points tagged at $670-$680/st in the Missouri market.
California: Effective March 9, Calamco’s postings in the California market firmed to $690/st truck-DEL for anhydrous ammonia and $185/st FOB for aqua ammonia. Those levels reflect a $30/st increase from the previous level for anhydrous, and an $8/st increase for aqua.
Agrium also announced pricing increases for ammonia. Effective March 11, the company’s reference prices for anhydrous ammonia moved to $685/st truck-DEL in central California and $690/st truck-DEL in northern California. Agrium’s aqua ammonia posting moved on March 11 to $185/st FOB in California.
Pacific Northwest: Anhydrous ammonia pricing was unchanged at $675-$720/st DEL in the Pacific Northwest region, with the low for railed tons and the upper end for truck-delivered material.
Western Canada: Anhydrous ammonia pricing to the dealer was steady at $817-$825/mt DEL in Manitoba, $825-$834/mt DEL in Saskatchewan, and $834-$861/mt DEL in Alberta. Dealer postings were in the $827-$871/mt DEL range in the region.
UREA
U.S. Gulf: Most last week put new NOLA prompt granular business at $330-$338/st FOB. Sources said barges sitting at NOLA are simply not worth that much for those upriver who are seeing some movement and/or are restocking positions. Instead, they said well-positioned barges upriver are garnering a premium, which would net back to NOLA at much higher levels i.e., $350-$362/st FOB.
Some sellers blamed the fall-off in pricing in the past few weeks to unnecessary panic by some of their brethren. They remain hopeful that once demand takes off, prices might again see a rebound. There was speculation last week that a large quantity of barges may be sold at the lower numbers, and that this would help put a floor under pricing. Others, however, note that imports continue to come to NOLA.
Speaking of imports, Yara’s last import of Libyan prills has been stuck in limbo as it sailed from Libya prior to new sanctions by the U.S. government. Now that sanctions are in place, the government has been trying to decide how the approximately 20,000 tons will be handled. The company confirmed last week that it has been cleared to unload the vessel into barges. However, it expects to wait 30 days prior to shipping them as the matter is still under government review and is not final. In the meantime, the company is eyeing Qatari prills as a substitute for serving the feed-grade market, but getting FDA approval for those is still an issue.
The Libyan situation has crimped prill supplies at NOLA, as well as the matter of gauging new trades. Prills had been trading at a premium to granular before the recent fall-off in granular pricing. However, with the tightness of prills right now new indicators are hard to find, with most expecting any premium to remain in place, if not increase due to the short supply.
Eastern Cornbelt: Lower urea prices were reported in the region last week, fueled by a weakening barge market at the U.S. Gulf. Sources pegged the dealer market for granular urea in the $390-$405/st FOB range in the region, down considerably from last report.
Wester