Central Florida: In the eastern U.S., Georgia was suffering the worst from drought, with about half the state in either extreme or exceptional drought. Most of the South and the Northeast were in also in drought or near drought conditions.
About the only place in the eastern part of the country without a severe problem was Florida, where only a small part of the Panhandle was experiencing any form of drought. The rest of the state has been receiving above normal rainfall since early June.
PotashCorp’s White Springs facility was back in operation late last week, but had not reached normal production levels. That was expected to occur sometime early this week. The facility was shut down due to flooding and a power outage during Tropical Storm Debby in late June. Shipment of some MAP was underway.
Meanwhile, producer inventories continued to be low and were projected to remain low, at least until September. Regardless, there were few buyers in the Central Florida market last week.
Mosaic reached an agreement on July 19 for new sulfur prices for molten delivered to Tampa, but PotashCorp was still in the process of negotiating. Mosaic’s new price was $170/lt for the third quarter, down $10/lt from the $180/lt it had been during the second quarter.
The DAP price range for Central Florida was unchanged last week at a flat $500/st FOB. CF’s posted price was at the $500/st FOB mark, and Mosaic was also at $500/st FOB. MAP continued to sell at a $20/st premium to DAP in Central Florida, about the same difference as from traders. PCS Sales, which produces MAP at its White Springs facility in North Florida, was selling at prices comparable to the market.
U.S. Gulf: The main topic of conversation at the Southwestern Fertilizer Conference at San Antonio last week was the weather and all its related problems. The worst drought in 50 years was expected to continue until October, according to long-range weather forecasts. Almost all of the Midwest was under some level of drought, from moderate to exceptional.
The damage was not only to crops, but to the morale of farmers and the dealers who serve them. One dealer described a farmer who had been despondent because he was unable to irrigate a large portion of his corn crop, but became very cheerful and optimistic after receiving only a fraction of an inch of rain. Although it did not really change his situation, it did change his attitude.
For the fertilizer industry, the big question was how the drought will affect sales in the fall. Pretty much everyone agreed nitrogen products will be in demand, but the outlook for phosphate and potash was less clear. Most likely less phosphate and potash will be used in the fall, but how much less will depend on soil tests. The season started early this year, and the plants used a good portion of the phosphate and potash in the soil during the early growing stages.
Prices for 2012 corn futures surged last week compared to the previous week, rising to over $8/bushel before retreating late in the week. The corn price for December was $7.8675/bushel, up from $7.215/bushel a week earlier. The corn price for December 2013 was $6.1875/bushel, increasing from $6.115/bushel the previous reporting period.
For November 2012, soybeans leaped to $16.52/bushel from $15.225/bushel the previous week, and soybeans for November 2013 increased to $13.135/bushel from $12.95/bushel a week earlier. Wheat for July 2013 rose to $8.32/bushel from $8.28/bushel the week before, and wheat for July 2014 was listed at $7.465/bushel last week, down from $7.7725/bushel the previous week. The Department of Agriculture rated only 34 percent of the soybean crop as excellent nationwide, which contributed to the big price push for that crop last week.
The Southwestern Fertilizer Conference did not generate a g