STC pushes urea tender back
The State Trading Corporation (STC) of India pushed back the closing date of its urea tender by one day. The tender will now close Oct. 18 at 11:00 a.m., with the tender offers to be opened at 3:00 p.m. The postponement, said one trader, was in response to the EID holiday that ended at sunset Oct. 15.
Sources say that STC could take up to 1.5 million mt if the price is right. The new tender was needed after MMTC only took about 600,000 mt in its tender earlier this month.
Even with the MMTC purchases, India still needs about 2 million mt of urea before the end of the application season in February 2014. Shipment must start before Nov. 30.