The Mosaic Co. on Sept. 26 announced a $15/st potash pricing increase, effective for all new sales on tons shipped by Dec. 31, 2018. The increase takes the company’s potash postings to $310/st FOB Midwest river terminals and $315/st FOB Midwest inland warehouses. Mosaic’s new NOLA potash reference price is $285/st FOB.
Tampa anhydrous ammonia business for October has been concluded at $355/mt CFR, up $25/mt from September’s $330/mt CFR. An increase was expected in line with higher international price ideas.
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission on Sept. 25 announced that the former CEO of Chilean-based chemical and mining company SQM has agreed to pay $125,000 to resolve charges that he violated the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA).
According to the SEC’s order, over the course of seven years, SQM’s then-CEO Patricio Contesse González caused SQM to make nearly $15 million in improper payments to Chilean political figures and others connected to them. Last year, SQM paid $30 million to settle parallel civil and criminal charges against the company.
The SEC’s order against Contesse found that he directed and authorized these improper payments through a discretionary CEO account. The payments were supported by fake documentation submitted to SQM by individuals and entities posing as legitimate vendors. Contesse caused the related false accounting entries in SQM’s books and records and also lied to SQM’s independent auditor and signed false certifications in SQM’s filings.
Contesse agreed to the settlement without admitting or denying the findings in the SEC’s order.
The state-owned Bangladesh Chemical Industries Corp. (BCIC) called a tender for 100,000 mt of granular urea and 50,000 mt of prilled urea to close Oct. 8. Tender offers must be in lots of 25,000 mt and valid through Nov. 15.
The granular shipments are to be sent to Chittagong and prills to Mongla.
The tender documents specifically banned any re-exported cargo except from landlocked countries. The language appears to be designed to prevent Iranian urea stored in Chinese bonded warehouses from being offered in the tender.
The tender call came after BCIC rejected offers in a tender that closed Sept. 11. In that tender, offers for prills and granular were $365/mt CFR bagged and higher against the previous tender, which settled at $356/mt CFR bagged. Sources said the growing strength in the urea market and the possibility of an Indian urea tender being called soon made the retender move questionable.
