Central Florida: Abnormally dry conditions continued to expand in both the Northeast and Southeast last week, according to the U.S. Drought Monitor. In addition, areas of moderate drought were expanding in portions of Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and Massachusetts.
The good news was that most of the corn harvest was nearly finished, with progress rated at 95 percent complete nationwide. The bad news was that parts of the Eastern Cornbelt and much of the South Central and Southeast regions were being slammed by a strong winter storm shortly before Thanksgiving.
The Central Florida phosphate market was quiet last week, with no new spot sales found and only contract railcars moving out of the state. Prices were unchanged, with DAP at $360-$370/st FOB and MAP bringing a $20/st premium over DAP in the Central Florida market.
U.S. Gulf: The Thanksgiving week took a toll on office attendance for many in the fertilizer industry, but a few deals did actually take place.
A strong storm was sweeping across the Midwest last week and was expected to move into the eastern U.S. later during the week. Fortunately, most of the corn crop had already been harvested.
A Nov. 26 snapshot of the futures market showed corn prices were down from the previous week, although the numbers were rosier for short-term soybean and wheat contracts.
Corn for December 2013 was $4.1775/bushel, down from the previous week’s $4.23/bushel, while corn for December 2014 clocked in at $4.5375/bushel, down slightly from the previous week’s $4.5775/bushel.
The January 2014 price of soybeans was $13.275/bushel, up 2.7 percent from the previous period’s $12.915/bushel, and just under the contract’s eight-week high. Beans for November 2014 were posted at $11.5475/bushel, down from the previous week’s $11.5925/bushel.
Short- and midterm-contracts for wheat appeared to rebound after dropping off from their six-month highs in late October. Wheat for December 2013 was at $7.0425/bushel, up from the previous week’s $6.9475/bushel, while wheat for July 2014 climbed slightly, to $6.8875/bushel from the prior week’s $6.8575/bushel. The July 2015 price of wheat was $6.985/bushel, down from the previous week’s price of $6.9825/bushel.
While dealer bins were not nearly full, activity remained suppressed. Now that farmers had their crops out of the field, the weather will have to cooperate before they will begin calling their local dealers for phosphate and other fertilizers.
The price for MAP has been heading south for the past several weeks, mostly because of the massive quantities of OCP product imported by both Koch and Helm. Domestic MAP was still priced well above DAP, but little has been sold recently because of the big price difference between it and the OCP material.
The price of DAP, on the other hand, has been slowly creeping up during the past few weeks. Koch was said to be bringing in a load of DAP in January. A source said they were first offered $325/st FOB for DAP, but the price rose to $330/st FOB only a day later.
The NOLA DAP barge price range last week came in at $325-$330/st FOB based on actual trades, compared to the previous week’s range of $322-$325/st FOB. NOLA MAP barges were reported in the same range as DAP, but a rumor held that a barge was sold at $317/st FOB for OCP product.
Eastern Cornbelt: DAP was tagged at $400-$415/st FOB in the Eastern Cornbelt. MAP remained at a $20/st premium to DAP.
10-34-0 was steady at $440-$455/st FOB in the region.
Western Cornbelt: DAP was quoted at $390-$405/st FOB in the Western Cornbelt, reflecting another slight drop from last report, with MAP reported in the $415-$425/st FOB range.
10-34-0 was pegged at $410-$425/st FOB in the regi