Washington–The 2011 edition of the Commercial Fertilizers report has been finalized and copies are available for purchase. The report shows a 4.31 percent increase in U.S. fertilizer nutrient consumption to 21.753 million short tons for the fertilizer year (FY) ending June 30, 2011. It indicates that in FY 2010/11 nitrogen consumption increased 5.0 percent to 12.840 million nutrient tons (MNT), phosphate consumption increased 3.8 percent to 4.321 MNT and potash consumption increased 3.0 percent to 4.591 MNT. The report also found that gross tonnage increased 8.6 percent to 60.393 million tons of material. That figure includes single, multiple and micro-nutrient materials, as well as organic and secondary materials. The report is a cooperative effort between The Fertilizer Institute (TFI) and the Association of American Plant Food Control Officials (AAPFCO) and is based on fertilizer consumption data submitted by state fertilizer control officials. The findings are categorized by state or, in select cases, by region. The data covers total fertilizer sales or shipments for farm and non-farm use, but does not include information regarding liming materials, peat, potting soils, soil amendments, soil additives and soil conditioners. In addition, materials used for the manufacture or blending of reported fertilizer grades or for use in other fertilizers have been excluded to avoid duplicate reporting. Hard copies of the report are now available and can be ordered by going to TFI’s website at www.tfi.org. The report is not available in electronic format. The cost of the report is $30 per copy for members of TFI and AAPFCO and $100 per copy for non-members. All proceeds from the sale of the report go to AAPFCO to support the data collection effort.
Sulphuric Acid Trading Co. Inc. (SATCO) has announced that Brent Shonka has joined the company as general manager. He has previously held numerous management roles with The Mosaic Co. and Cargill Inc. in the U.S. as well as in China and the Ukraine. He will be based in Tampa.
Tampa: Negotiations between phosphate producers and their sulfur suppliers for deliveries of molten sulfur to Tampa for the second quarter continued last week. Generally, it has been assumed that the price will either remain the same or move up a few dollars.
With the delay of the spring season, phosphate companies have less in operating revenues to spend on sulfur, which may help hold the price down.
The refinery capacity rate rose 0.5 percent last week, from 86.3 percent to 86.8 percent, according to the U.S. Department of Energy. The increase was due primarily to turnarounds being completed and units coming back online.
The U.S. EPA has issued a proposed rule to reduce the sulfur in gasoline from 30 ppm to 10 ppm, which has been the standard for sulfur content in gasoline in California. Refinery owners said this would increase the cost of gasoline by $0.06-$0.08/gallon, but clean air advocates said the cost will be closer to $0.01/gallon. The move would reduce emissions and improve the performance of catalytic converters.
Regardless, the amount of sulfur that will be made available will increase, although by exactly how much was not clear.
U.S. Gulf: The price of prill on the Gulf Coast was down in the $135-$140/mt FOB range last week, which was below the Tampa molten price of $150/lt. However, the Tampa price includes transportation.
U.S. Imports: July-February sulfur imports were off 4 percent, to 1.5 million st from the year-ago 1.57 million st, February imports, however, were up 23 percent, to 217,119 st from the year-ago 176,568.
Vancouver: The eyes of the industry were focused on negotiations between phosphate producers and their sulfur suppliers last week at Tampa.
No changes were found in either contract or spot transactions in Vancouver last week. Inventories at China were still increasing, which was not a positive for the Vancouver market.
West Coast: West Coast prices continued to mirror the Vancouver range, running around $145-$155/mt FOB.
Benelux: The price for the first quarter was $195-$210/mt FOB. A new price should be available relatively soon.
ADNOC: The ADNOC price for April moved to $160/mt FOB, up $5/mt from the previous $155/mt FOB.
U.S. Gulf: Most continued to put the potash market in the $415-$420/st FOB range for barges. However, some buyers were aggressively seeking $410-$412/st FOB for the next round of trading.
U.S. February MOP imports were up 29 percent, to 767,642 st from the year-ago 597,131 st. July-February imports were less robust and were up only 8 percent, to 6.3 million st from the year-ago 5.8 million st.
Eastern Cornbelt: Potash was quoted in the $450-$460/st range FOB most regional warehouses in the Eastern Cornbelt, indicating another slight drop from last report. One Illinois contact said he wouldn’t be surprised to see sub-$450/st FOB deals in the near term.
Western Cornbelt: Most sources tagged the potash market in the $450-$460/st range FOB warehouses in the Western Cornbelt region.
Southern Plains: Potash pricing remained in the $450-$455/st range FOB most regional warehouses in the Southern Plains, with granular pricing FOB Carlsbad, N.M., quoted at a nominal $465/st FOB.
South Central: Potash pricing was flat at $445-$450/st FOB in the South Central region.
Southeast: Potash pricing remained flat at $450-$455/st FOB port terminals and $460-$465/st DEL in the Southeast.
India: In an unusual move, MMTC called a tender for 100,000 mt of MOP to close April 15. The tender wants the 100,000 mt as a firm offer, with an additional 200,000 mt at the buyer’s option. Delivery of the material is to take place between now and March 2014.
Sources say given the nature of potash international trade, calling a tender was a most unusual move. One trader suggested the tender was called only for appearance’s sake.
Central Florida: Weather in the Mid-Atlantic was improving rapidly last week, and fertilizer was beginning to move out of dealer warehouses to fields in Maryland and southern Pennsylvania.
A trader said the biggest problem with the rush was finding enough trucks to make deliveries to customers. It was a scramble.
In the Southeast, activity was strong in some areas. Fieldwork was still stalled in much of the Northeast, however.
There were no new spot sales of prompt railcars out of Central Florida last week, but that should begin to change during the next few weeks.
Sulfur suppliers and phosphate producers were in the process of negotiating second-quarter molten sulfur prices for delivery to Tampa, but had not yet reached an agreement as of late last week. A source said the parties were not that far apart, however. The most likely outcome is a rollover in the price from the first quarter, several sources said.
Central Florida DAP remained unchanged last week at $465-$520/st FOB, based on posted and asking prices. Mosaic was listed at $465/st FOB for rail and $480/st FOB for trucks, while CF was posted at $520/st FOB. PCS Sales was selling at market prices out of Aurora and White Springs.
MAP continued to bring a $20/st premium over DAP.
U.S. Gulf: The first NOLA barges of the season broke through ice at Lake Pepin in Minnesota last week, much later than the normal opening period of March 20.
Previously, with the exception of flooding conditions, the latest the river was open for business was April 4. This year, the date was April 8. Last year, by contrast, the first tow of the season to arrive at the Twin Cities was March 17.
The season has gotten off to a late start and that has cost fertilizer companies big bucks. On the positive side, there has been much more precipitation this year than last, but all that moisture has delayed the start of planting.
A source said activity had been strong in Illinois, Indiana, and Iowa, but was stopped again last week due to weather. For the most part, little was moving out of terminals and warehouses last week, but if the weather cooperates there will be a major rush to get product and get it on the ground. Terminal prices for DAP were in the $495-$505/st FOB range pretty much throughout the area served by NOLA barges.
Farmers were concerned about the late start. Dealers were mostly full, but sources said supplies can be exhausted quickly if demand picks up rapidly in multiple locations.
The first unit train was scheduled to leave St. Louis last week, but was delayed because the customer said he did not have enough room in his bins to take the full load.
Crop prices for grain products were mixed last week compared to the previous week, with corn and soybeans up and wheat heading down. Corn for May was pegged at $6.535/bushel last week, up from $6.33/bushel a week earlier. Corn for December 2013 was $5.4125/bushel, up from $5.3725/bushel at last report, while corn for December 2014 was posted at $5.4575/bushel, up from $5.415/bushel the previous week.
Soybeans for May were at $14.035/bushel, up from $13.6575/bushel the previous week, while bean prices for November 2013 increased to $12.2825/bushel from $12.245/bushel at last report. Soybeans for November 2014 were posted at $12.2925/bushel, up from $12.2125/bushel the previous week.
Wheat for May was $6.97/bushel, down sharply from $7.8825/bushel the previous week. Wheat for July 2013 decreased to $7.02255/bushel from $7.865/bushel at last report, while wheat for July 2014 was listed at $7.495/bushel last week, down from $8.1675/bushel the previous week.
The NOLA DAP barge price was quoted at $460-$470/st FOB last week, based on the combination of a few trades and offers. The range was down slightly from the previous week’s range of $465-$472/st FOB.
Eastern Cornbelt: Granular ammonium sulfate was unchanged at $385-$410/st FOB in the Eastern Cornbelt region, with the low in Illinois and the upper end FOB East Liverpool and Maumee, Ohio.
Ammonium thiosulfate was pegged at $340-$350/st FOB regional terminals, down slightly from last report.
Western Cornbelt: Granular ammonium sulfate pricing in the Western Cornbelt was steady at $375-$385/st FOB last week.
Southern Plains: Granular ammonium sulfate was unchanged at $330-$365/st FOB in Texas, depending on location, with the low FOB Freeport and the upper end FOB Littlefield and Plainview.
Ammonium thiosulfate remained at $300-$310/st FOB in the Southern Plains region.
South Central: Granular ammonium sulfate pricing remained at $355-$360/st FOB most terminals in the South Central region.
The ammonium thiosulfate market was steady as well at $335-$340/st FOB in the region.
Southeast: Ammonium sulfate pricing in the Southeast was up from last report. Sources quoted the Hopewell, Va., market at $370/st FOB for granular ammonium sulfate to the dealer, with $10/st discounts to national accounts.
Effective April 1, DSM raised its granular ammonium sulfate prices in the Southeast by $20/st and its standard grade by $10/st. As a result, granular ammonium sulfate pricing from the company moved to $375/st FOB Augusta, Ga., $380/st DEL in the Carolinas, $390/st DEL in Georgia, and $395/st DEL in Florida. DSM’s standard grade postings moved to $230/st FOB Augusta and $270/st rail-DEL in Florida.
U.S. Gulf: Of all the nitrogens, ammonium nitrate barges appeared to have the strongest legs last week, with the market put at $340-$346/st FOB. There was some speculation that it might fall as well, but most sources put it above the $340/st mark and stronger.
February imports were up 78 percent, to 121,228 st from the year-ago 68,037 st. July-February imports were up 40 percent, to 678,169 st from the year-ago 482,925 st.
Western Cornbelt: Ammonium nitrate was unchanged at $400-$405/st FOB in the Western Cornbelt.
Southern Plains: Ammonium nitrate remained at $385-$390/st FOB the Tulsa market last week.
South Central: The ammonium nitrate market was unchanged at $385-$390/st FOB most terminals in the South Central region.
Southeast: The ammonium nitrate market remained at $405-$410/st FOB Tampa.
U.S. Gulf: Like urea, many sources last week said the UAN barge market started off high before succumbing to a nervous tone. Early week trades were called $335-$345/st ($10.47-$10.78/unit) FOB. By the end of week, however, sources speculated that the next piece of business would be in the $325-$330/st ($10.15-$10.31/unit) FOB range.
July-February imports were off 3 percent, to 2.28 million st from the year-ago 2.35 million st. February imports, however, were actually up 9 percent, to 288,580 st from 265,767 st.
Eastern Cornbelt: The UAN-28 market was quoted at $330-$335/st ($11.79-$11.96/unit) FOB Cincinnati, with the low for prompt material and the upper end for forward tons. Out of East Liverpool, sources pegged the dealer market at $12.45/unit FOB.
The UAN-32 market was pegged at $380-$390/st ($11.88-$12.19/unit) FOB throughout the Ohio River Valley for truck tons, and up to $400/st ($12.50/unit) FOB out of terminals in northern Illinois and Indiana.
Western Cornbelt: UAN-32 remained in the $375-$390.40/st ($11.72-$12.20/unit) range FOB regional terminals in the Western Cornbelt, with the upper end in Iowa and the low in southern Missouri.
Southern Plains: Recent weather delays have caused UAN inventories in the Southern Plains to loosen up a bit, but supplies remained very tight at some terminals.
Sources quoted the the UAN-32 market at $365-$375/st ($11.41-$11.72/unit) FOB regional production points for any available prompt tons, with reports of at least one location offering forward tons at the $355-$360/st ($11.09-$11.25/unit) FOB level. Those numbers were down considerably from last report.
South Central: UAN pricing in the South Central region was up from last report. Sources quoted the UAN-32 market at $370-$375/st ($11.56-$11.72/unit) FOB Memphis and spot Arkansas terminals on the low end.
The upper end of the regional range was quoted by Kentucky sources at the $380/st ($11.88/unit) FOB mark or higher for truck tons in the Ohio River Valley.
Southeast: Sources pegged the UAN-32 market at $350/st ($10.94/unit) FOB Norfolk, Va., Wilmington, N.C., and Brunswick, Ga., with UAN-30 quoted at the $330/st ($11.00/unit) mark FOB most port terminals in the Southeast.
Western Canada: Yara Belle Plaine UAN production continues to be offline with expectations that it will be up soon.
U.S. Gulf: The bears were again in charge of the NOLA granular urea market last week.
While early week sales were reported as high as $387-$391/st FOB, prices quickly eroded into the low $380s/st FOB, with reports that $370/st FOB was achieved by the end of the week. There were rumors of $360/st, but some suggested those were May paper trades, not prompt physical tons as the week ended.
Sources attributed the drop to nervous players in the market who were more concerned about seeing tons sold, even if it meant a lower price. An influx of imports was also cited for the drop, as was wet weather that has slowed movement across much of the heartland.
Market bulls argued that there was really no reason for urea price erosion at this time, since the wet weather will likely cause farmers to shift from ammonia to urea and UAN for the huge 97.3 million acre corn crop.
July-February imports were up 37 percent, to 5.73 million st from the year-ago 4.2 million st. February imports were up 31 percent, to 705,735 st from the year-ago 536,864 st.
Eastern Cornbelt: Granular urea was quoted in the $435-$450/st FOB range in the Eastern Cornbelt region, with the low in Cincinnati and the upper end in the East Liverpool, Ohio, market. Illinois sources pegged the dealer market at the $445/st FOB level or lower last week, depending on location.
Western Cornbelt: Granular urea was quoted at $435-$450/st FOB in the Western Cornbelt region, down some $5-$10/st from last report, with the low reported in the St. Louis, Mo., market last week.
Southern Plains: Granular urea pricing continued to slip in the Southern Plains. Sources pegged the dealer market at $425-$435/st FOB out of the Tulsa, Okla., market last week, depending on supplier, with the low reflecting Koch’s latest reference price. That range reflected a $10/st drop from last report.
South Central: South Central sources quoted the granular urea market at $435-$445/st FOB regional terminals, down $5/st from last report, with the low quoted in Arkansas and the upper end in Kentucky. The dealer market FOB Memphis was tagged at the $440/st level at midweek, down $10/st from last report
Southeast: While southern Florida was experiencing summer-like weather with high heat and humidity last week, severe thunderstorms were expected to bring hail, heavy rains, strong winds, and even the threat of tornadoes to parts of Georgia and Alabama on April 11.
The strong storm system was moving into the region from the Midwest, where it left heavy snows, ice, and wind damage in many areas. Parts of the Carolinas were also expecting more moisture from the storm late in the week.
Wet weather has delayed corn planting in the Southeast, and sources in some areas said growers have begun swapping their corn seed for soybeans or cotton. In areas of Georgia, however, sources reported busy fieldwork last week ahead of the incoming precipitation. “We are running wide open down here now with a tremendous amount of field activity taking place,” said one Georgia contact at midweek.
In the Carolinas, by contrast, wet conditions continued to delay fieldwork. “We’re extremely wet. We need some dry weather,” said one Carolina source last week. “We’re getting behind, and this rain will put us out again for awhile.”
Spot fertilizer prices changed only slightly from last report. Granular urea pricing had reportedly slipped to $460-$465/st FOB port terminals in the region, with some speculating that lower prices were likely in the near term.
India: The wait is over. IPL called a tender to close April 12, just after Green Markets went to press. Sources expect to see Iran and CIS material domin
U.S. Gulf/Tampa: The markets remained quiet last week. February imports were off 23 percent, to 495,743 st from the year-ago 643,232 st. July-February imports were off 4 percent, to 4.66 million st from the year-ago 4.85 million st.
Eastern Cornbelt: The Eastern Cornbelt endured another stormy blast last week, this time from a powerful system that first pounded the Southern Plains region before moving east.
Central and southern Illinois were hit with strong winds and 1-2.5 inches of rain at midweek, while parts of Indiana experienced hail, heavy rains, and localized flooding. Similar conditions were also reported in northern Ohio, where midweek thunderstorms produced rain and winds that caused minor flooding and knocked out power in some areas.
Prior to the moisture, several sources reported a heavy fieldwork pace in early April, although minimal planting has taken place in the region. An Ohio source said fieldwork had been “crazy busy” in his location for the past two weeks, with growers and dealers focusing on alfalfa and grass hay fertilization, wheat topdressing, and applying preplants on rowcrop ground.
Illinois sources continued to quote the ammonia market at $780/st FOB or DEL last week. The upper end of the regional range was quoted at $785-$800/st FOB in Indiana and Ohio, depending on location. The dealer market FOB Huntington, Ind., was tagged at $795/st.
Western Cornbelt: A powerful spring storm dumped heavy snow on parts of Nebraska last week, and also pounded Iowa and Missouri with strong winds, hail, and heavy rain.
The precipitation put a stop to what had been a brief but busy period of field activity in some locations. A southern Missouri source at midweek said fertilizer had been moving out of his location every day from 6 a.m. to 8 p.m. since April 4. “It’s fast and furious,” he said. “A lot of corn has been planted in this area.”
That was not the case in many other areas of the region, however, where sources continued to complain of a very late start to spring planting. One source said a lot of corn needs to be planted in a short time, and some areas missed their window for preplant ammonia, meaning more UAN and urea will be needed for sidedress.
Another source suggested that growers in his area may switch from UAN to urea to sidedress corn because of tight UAN inventories.
Sources continued to quote the dealer market for ammonia at $720/st FOB in Nebraska, $740/st FOB in western Iowa, and up to $760/st FOB in eastern Iowa and Missouri. Delivered ammonia was in the $760-$770/st range in the region.
Southern Plains: A powerful storm left ice, snow, and rain across much of the Southern Plains early in the week, and saw temperatures fall from the 70s to the low teens in less than 24 hours in some locations.
One Kansas source said more than an inch of rain fell in his location before the precipitation turned to ice, causing power outages and dropping temperatures to below freezing at midweek. Lows fell on April 10 to a record 12 degrees in Denver, Colo., and 18 degrees in Goodland, Kan., and 50 mph winds produced blizzard conditions in northeastern Colorado.
The freezing temperatures raised some concern about the winter wheat crop in Kansas. Some corn has also been planted in the region, but is not yet up in the areas hit with the coldest temperatures.
Although warmer weather was in the weekend forecast, the wintry conditions made for minimal fieldwork in the region last week. “We’ve been relatively busy,” said one Kansas source, but he acknowledged that not all the wheat is topdressed and no corn was seeded in his trade area. “It’s getting late,” he added.
The anhydrous ammonia market was tagged at $670-$680/st FOB most region
Disclaimer of Warranty
All information has been obtained by Green Markets from sources believed to be reliable. However, because of the possibility of human or mechanical error by our sources, Green Markets or others, Green Markets does not guarantee the accuracy, adequacy, or completeness of any information and is not responsible for any errors or omissions or for the results obtained from the use of such information.
