IPL Calls Urea Tender
The industry was surprised on Sept. 16 when IPL called a urea tender to close on Sept. 25. It is unusual for a company to call a tender so close after it closed an earlier tender for the same product. Usually one of the other three buying houses would call a tender if the government approves the rapid call.
When the previous IPL tender resulted in only 327,000 mt being purchased against offers of 709,000 mt, industry watchers said another tender could be called quickly, but most likely would wait until all the awarded material in the first tender was booked with vessels all nominated.
India needs about 1.5 million tons to close out the year. Sources said securing the necessary tonnage has become difficult. China has withdrawn from the international market, as has Ukraine. This leaves the Arab Gulf and Iranian producers, sources said. Demand has been growing worldwide for Iranian product, however, leaving India to compete with buyers in Latin America and Europe.