AMMONIA
AMMONIA
U.S. Gulf/Tampa: The NOLA and Tampa markets remained quiet last week at $420/st FOB and $450/mt DEL, respectively.
Ammonia imports were up 63 percent in January, according to the U.S. Department of Commerce (DOC), to 588,004 st from the year-ago 361,648 st. However, for the July-January period, they were still off 7 percent, to 3.73 million st from 4.01 million st.
Eastern Cornbelt: The ammonia market was steady at $415-$425/st FOB regional terminals in late February. CF’s cash market postings on March 10 included $415/st FOB Terra Haute, Ind., Seneca, Ill., and Peru, Ill., $420/st FOB Albany, Ill., and $425/st FOB Cowden and Kingston Mines, Ill., and Frankfort and Huntington, Ind. One source said prepay offers were still on the table at the $435/st FOB level in Illinois.
Western Cornbelt: Anhydrous ammonia was quoted at $375-$410/st FOB regional terminals, with the low in Nebraska and the upper numbers out of Missouri and Iowa terminals.
Although temperatures climbed to the 50s and 60s throughout the Midwest last week, field activities continued to be hampered by wet field conditions, rain, and melting snow. The precipitation and snowmelt, coupled with ice jams, prompted flood watches or warnings for many locations in the region.
Northern Plains: Delivered ammonia in North Dakota was pegged at $450-$485/st, depending on supplier and location. Out of terminals in the region, the ammonia market was quoted at $410-$425/st FOB. One source said it remains to be seen how wet field conditions will affect preplant ammonia movement in the region, especially given the region’s wet fall and surplus winter snowfall.
Middle East: Most producers in the area are oversold, say traders. Swaps and other deals are being made regularly to make sure contract buyers get their tons in a timely manner.
Demand from Asia is keeping the order books full and the price inching upward.
The problem for the producers is that it is only the lower end of the market at this time that is rising.
Iran has been on a selling spree lately, say sources. Cargoes have been sold to European trading houses Transammonia and Yara. Sources peg the highest price paid for these deals at $370/mt FOB.
The Arab producers have been arguing since early February for $400/mt FOB. One Asian source said if it were not for the Iranian tons, that level could have been achieved.
As the market now stands, say producers and traders, the Iranian business at $370/mt FOB represents the low end of the scale. Other deals, mostly contract tons, are coming in at $380-$390/mt FOB.
Sources say the Iranians are willing to take a lower netback than the rest of the Gulf for a couple of reasons.
Most ammonia buyers take their cargoes on a delivered basis. The Iranian loading port is further away than the Arab ports. As a result, the transportation time ?Çô and cost ?Çô is greater. The growing movement to impose sanctions on Iran because of its nuclear program is also limiting potential buyers, making placement of their tons more difficult.
As the week closed, sources pegged the market for the area at $370-$390/mt FOB.
Black Sea: Even as prices move up, Ukrainian producers are still hesitant to come back online. Sources say the combination of uncertainty about natural gas prices and a fear of putting too much ammonia back into the market are making the producers wary.
Sources report that if the Ukrainians come back in, the new tonnage could soften what seems to be a strengthening market. Sources report a deal at $390/mt FOB was closed last week, moving the price up $10/mt.
Sources could not point to an end user for the deal, but said the most likely buye
Washington-Claims by University of Virginia researchers that conventional crops such as switchgrass, canola, and corn have lower environmental impacts than algae as energy sources are being challenged by algae advocates. The study, which was published in Environmental Science and Technology, concluded that “The large environmental footprint of algae cultivation is driven predominantly by upstream impacts, such as the demand for CO2 and fertilizer.” But the Algal Biomass Organization (ABO) responds that the report was based on obsolete data and grossly outdated business models, and overlooked tremendous improvements in technology and processes across the production cycle. ABO advised that these obsolete data and faulty assumptions seriously undermine the credibility of the study’s conclusions. “We appreciate and support the interest in algae among the scientific community, and agree that examination of the life cycle impacts of algae for fuel processes is important,” said Mary Rosenthal, executive director of ABO. “However, we expect such research to be based on current information, valid assumptions, and proven facts. Unfortunately, this report falls short of those standards with its use of decades old data and errant assumptions of current production and refining technologies.” Dr. Stephen Mayfield, director of the San Diego Center for Algae Biotechnology, added, “Even with the scientific shortcomings of the survey, it shows that with a few improvements, algae is much better than terrestrial plants as a fuel source. The truth is that the algae industry is already well beyond the obvious improvements these authors suggest, and as we add these new efficiencies algae will become much more environmentally beneficial.”
Moscow-Russian fertilizer producer UralChem OJSC recently announced that it has successfully completed agronomic efficiency trials of new calcium-ammonium-nitrate (CAN) and calcium-nitrogen-sulfate (CNS) products that were developed at the company’s Kirovo-Chepetsk Chemical Plant in Russia in 2005. Trials were conducted in 2008 and 2009 on wheat and barley, two of the most common crops in the Central and Volga Federal Districts of Russia, by UralChem’s consulting agronomists together with scientists from the N.V. Rudnitsky North-East Agricultural Research Institute. The trial application of CNS fertilizers demonstrated an increase in wheat yields by 2.6 centners per hectare when compared with ordinary ammonium nitrate, while the CAN fertilizer product increased barley yields by 5.8 centners per hectare. The company said the trials showed both fertilizers “promote better plant growth and development, and help to improve crop yields.” UralChem has been supplying both CAN and CNS fertilizers to Europe – including Scandinavia, the United Kingdom, and Germany – since 2005.
Joliet, Ill.-Joliet won’t be able to increase the amount of radium in the biosolids being spread as fertilizer on nearby farmland under a new permit issued by the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency (IEPA), but city officials indicate that it isn’t the final word. The city had wanted to increase the naturally occurring radioactive content in the fertilizer to 1.0 picocuries per gram, or more than double the 0.4 mandated by IEPA relying on policy established by the Illinois Emergency Management Agency. “We’re going to maintain our current program and evaluate our next step,” Joliet Public Works Director James Eggen told Green Markets. “We still have some options left to appeal the permit and will decide over the next 30 days what approach we want to take … We’ll be looking at the possibility of pursuing additional farmers to participate and basically double the number of sites we apply to.” According to Eggen, radium affects other communities in Illinois, Iowa, and Wisconsin. Wisconsin, which is traditionally observed as more conservative with environmental regulations, has a higher standard than Illinois. “They follow the federal guidelines, which Joliet has asked Illinois to adopt.”
Jacksonville, Fla.-The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has added the old Kerr-McGee fertilizer plant, which began operating nearly 80 years ago, to its National Priorities List (Superfund), which could mean that the site is headed for a government-funded cleanup at some point in the future. It was one of three sites designated March 3, including the Kerr-McGee plant at Navassa, N.C. It isn’t clear as yet what approach would be taken to deal with benzene, DDT, toxaphene, arsenic, lead, and other pollutants at the site, but Region 4 spokeswoman Dawn Harris-Young said EPA expects to make a final decision around September. A proposal was put forward last year calling for a $20 million-plus cleanup starting sometime this year at the site in a Jacksonville industrial center on the edge of the St. Johns River. Jordan Gerrard, EPA project manager at the time, said an ambitious cleanup plan would have the current owner, Tronox Inc., purchase a section of the river bottom from the state to allow removal of contaminated sediments, which would then be buried at the site with other contaminants. Gerrard also said a bentonite slurry wall would be built in an excavation 40 to 45 feet deep along the property boundaries to prevent groundwater migration. A bulkhead made up of interlocking sheets of piling driven into the bedrock would connect into the slurry wall. Then a thick plastic barrier would be spread over the 31 acres, covered with fill dirt, and topped with concrete, asphalt, or landscaping. Sediment from the river would be disposed of behind the bulkhead. The plant was operated from 1919 until 1970 by various entities conducting pesticide and herbicide formulations and fertilizer and sulfuric acid manufacturing. Kerr-McGee Chemical LLC, which was acquired in 2006 by Houston-based based Anadarko Petroleum Corp., operated two plants for the formulation, blending, and packaging of pesticides, herbicides, and fertilizers. The property was fenced to keep people out, and buildings were demolished years ago.
Cameron, Mo.-The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is investigating a second potential source of chromium and other contaminants that are the focus of lawsuits by area residents claiming health problems that were caused by fertilizer distributed from a tannery operation. EPA Region 7 spokesman Chris Whitley told Green Markets that, based on a anonymous tip, some 60 surface soil samples have been taken at a rail spur used a number of years ago to offload and stockpile shipments of lead and other metallic ores for transportation to the location of a former Rockwool Industries insulation plant. The samples were taken in Cameron, where a soccer complex is now located, and also from yards in an adjacent subdivision. The samples were sent to the EPA lab in Kansas City, where results are expected in five or six weeks. “The other theory relates to the fertilizer sludge distributed to four different counties from the tannery in St. Joseph, but there’s no direct connection between the tannery and Rockwool,” Whitley stated. He said sampling in connection with the tannery wastes is the responsibility of the Missouri Dept. of Natural Resources (MDNR), which is currently reviewing the results of soil samples collected in late January from 15 farm fields and 10 associated residential yards in Andrew, Buchanan, Clinton, and DeKalb counties. MDNR spokesman Judd Slivka said the sampling locations were selected based on each site’s history of sludge application from National Beef Leathers/Prime Tanning, with five sites each classified as high, medium, and low levels of sludge application. A total of 76 composite samples from the farm fields and 60 composite samples from residential yards were shipped to a contract lab for hexavalent chromium and other related analyses. Results have been received from the laboratory and are undergoing statistical analysis and quality assurance review.
Phoenix-A prominent Arizona fuel company, Pioneer Distributing Co., has become the latest addition to the Yara/Mansfield Oil Co. Air1 diesel exhaust fluid (DEF) team, responsible for supplying eight counties in the state. In the meantime, Air1 Director Chad Dombroski said Yara and its partner Mansfield are setting their sights on distribution locations in the Pacific Northwest and states in the East and South. Dombroski told Green Markets that 30 distributors will be announced in the next few weeks to cover the Pacific Northwest, New York City, Philadelphia, Atlanta, and several other major market centers. Chicago, Houston, Louisiana, Ohio, Kentucky, and Indiana are already covered, but not with the same concentration as California, which is expected to experience earlier transition of many existing trucks under the Best Available Control Technology regulations promulgated by the California Air Resources Board. Dombroski also reported Yara is developing a robust distribution network for Air1 that will cover all of Canada from Vancouver to the Maritimes.
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