Central Florida: Large portions of the eastern U.S. were experiencing abnormally dry conditions last week, as rain continued to be scarce.
Sources said dealers were making increased inquiries about phosphate, and several said they thought the market had reached the bottom – or somewhere close to it. Still, most were making buys from warehouses and terminals rather than by rail from Central Florida, where contract deliveries continued to be the rule.
The price phosphate producers will have to pay for ammonia in December declined $30/mt, dropping from $480/mt to $450/mt.
The Central Florida DAP market remained at $360-$370/st FOB last week. MAP prices continued to bring a premium of about $20/st FOB over DAP in the Central Florida market. Sources recently put PotashCorp’s DAP price from Aurora, N.C., at $410/st FOB.
U.S. Gulf: Although trading was light for NOLA phosphate last week, DAP prices were actually higher than the previous week, as many believed that market had reached its bottom.
The normally quiet period of December through January was rapidly approaching, and the market seems to have embraced the reality that prices can only go so low. That belief was also reinforced by a stronger export market. So far, reportedly none of the phosphate producers have curtailed production, and the export market has been enough to keep inventories in balance.
The story on MAP was a real turnaround. MAP prices had been $10-$20/st higher than DAP, but that changed last week. Several sources said imported OCP MAP supplies had created a glut on the market, and by late last week MAP prices were slightly lower than DAP.
DAP bins, by contrast, were far from being full. Several sources estimated DAP supplies at 50-60 percent of capacity, with the exception of the Mid-South region, where they were closer to empty. However, the more southerly bins are closer to the supply chain and can get resupplied much faster.
The strong cold front that rolled across a large portion of the Midwest last week spawned devastating tornados, but also much needed rain. As a result, drought conditions eased somewhat in Illinois, Indiana, and Michigan. The additional moisture has helped raise water levels on the Mississippi River and its tributaries, but the dock at Blytheville, Ark., was still not able to load or unload last week. Most other ports on the river were doing better.
The Thursday snapshot of crop prices showed that grain prices were down across the board compared to the previous week. Corn for December 2013 was $4.23/bushel, down from $4.265/bushel the previous week, while corn for December 2014 fell to $4.5775/bushel from the prior week’s $4.665/bushel.
The soybean price for January 2014 slipped to $12.915/bushel from $13.135/bushel a week earlier, while soybeans for November 2014 fell to $11.5925/bushel last week, down from $11.77/bushel the previous week.
Wheat was also down, with prices for December 2013 falling to $6.975/bushel from the previous week’s $7.03/bushel. Wheat for July 2014 was $6.8575/bushel, down from $6.9675 the previous week, while wheat for July 2015 slipped to $6.985/bushel from the prior week’s $7.045/bushel.
The NOLA DAP barge price was reported at $322-$325/st FOB, narrower than the previous week’s $320-$330/st FOB range, but was based on actual trades and not bids and offers. NOLA MAP barges were trading at a slight discount to DAP, with the MAP range reported at $318-$325/st FOB, set mostly by sales of OCP product.
Eastern Cornbelt: Sources reported some fall movement of phosphates and potash in the Eastern Cornbelt last week, but the pace remained slow.
DAP was quoted in a broad range in the region last week, from a low of $400-$405/st FOB Cincinnati to a high of $420/st FOB in the Indian