Walnut Creek, Calif.—Wilbur-Ellis Co. has acquired the assets of Blue River Ag Supply LLC, located in Edgerton, Wisc. The company also acquired the assets of G & G Spray Service Inc. as part of the purchase. The location services customers spanning Southern Wisconsin to Northern Illinois, and will now be part of the Wilbur-Ellis Great Lakes operations. Wilbur-Ellis operates several locations in the Great Lakes region and said it is excited about the additional expansion in Wisconsin. Wilbur-Ellis says it offers a total solutions approach to crop production management, including the most advanced crop production technology in seed, fertilizer, plant protection, application, data management, and analytics. In addition, Blue River Ag Supply’s customers will soon be able to work with Wilbur-Ellis crop technology personnel. “Blue River Ag Supply is already a successful and sustainable business with quality leadership, making it a great fit for Wilbur-Ellis,” said Tim Boals, Wilbur-Ellis Great Lakes regional manager. “Their people are experienced, very customer oriented, and have good knowledge of the local markets. We’re thrilled to welcome them to the Wilbur-Ellis Great Lakes team.” “We’ve built a thriving business, and I believe that becoming part of Wilbur-Ellis will only benefit our employees and customers,” said Chad Georgeson, co-owner of Blue River Ag Supply. “We look forward to growing with Wilbur-Ellis and all the new business opportunities that lay ahead.” Georgeson will now serve as the location’s branch manager. Charles Stross is also co-owner of Blue River Ag Supply. Wilbur-Ellis’ Agribusiness Division generates over $2 billion in sales revenue and has 166 locations in 25 states throughout the United States.
The IPL tender closed July 26 with prices even lower than those offered in the STC tender just a month ago. And with more companies moving the price down.
Industry sources bemoaned the STC awarded prices of $303-$307/mt CFR last month as unrealistically too low. In the run up to the IPL tender traders were saying any offer below $310/mt CFR could cause financial ruin for any firm offering at those levels.
When the final IPL numbers came out, however, more than 4 million mt were offered below $310/mt CFR, compared to about 800,000 mt in the STC tender. Of the 27 companies offering material, only four had offers at $310/mt CFR and up. In the STC tender, only three companies offered sub-$310/mt CFR.
The lowest offer came from Overseas Trading at $303.50/mt CFR. The rest of the companies were well-known trading houses that don’t often make major mistakes in guessing market levels.
The low prices come on the heels of Arab Gulf producers pushing the price back into the $340s/mt FOB and prices firming in China around $315/mt FOB for granular and $300/mt FOB for prilled.
The offers are to remain valid until August 2.
Under normal rules, IPL will now go to the other offering companies to see if they will match the Overseas’ price. The other companies may respond the same way they did to STC last month. The offering companies could hold firm on their prices and negotiate only the quantities to sell.
One trader noted as the preliminary numbers came out, that few trading houses have enough profit margins to accept any price lower than their initial offer.
U.S. Gulf/Tampa: Major players were reported to have concluded new business last week at the $470/mt CFR mark, matching an earlier trade Mosaic was believed to have made with another player.
Ammonia imports were up 11 percent in May, according to the U.S. Department of Commerce, to 618,804 st from the year-ago 559,170 st. July-May imports were up 2 percent, to 6.64 million st versus the year-ago 6.53 million st.
Eastern Cornbelt: The previous week’s sweltering heat gave way to cooler weather in northern Ohio last week, along with heavy rains in some locations on July 23. Powerful thunderstorms were also reported in southern Indiana early in the week.
Sources continued to report favorable crop conditions in the region, and the slightly cooler temperatures were a plus for pollinating corn crops. With 62-64 percent of the regional corn crop in the silking stage by July 21, USDA assigned good or excellent ratings to 77-78 percent of the acreage in Indiana and Ohio, and 65 percent in Illinois.
The soybean crop was in similar shape last week. With 50-60 percent of the regional crop at the blooming stage, USDA rated 72-74 percent of the acreage in Illinois and Indiana as good or excellent, compared with 62 percent in Ohio. Ammonia prices in Illinois ranged from $540-$570/st FOB for prompt or fill tons, with the Indiana ammonia market roughly $10/st higher.
Western Cornbelt: Summer heat at mid-month caused drought conditions to expand in Iowa and Missouri. The combination of heat and humidity also ushered in some severe weather early in the week, with reports of heavy rains, two-inch hail, and 65 mph winds in parts of northeastern Iowa.
Corn and soybean development continued to trail the five-year average in all three states, and crop conditions showed a slight drop from the previous week. USDA rated 63-66 percent of Nebraska’s corn and soybeans as good or excellent last week, compared with 55-56 percent in Iowa, and 46 percent in Missouri.
Sources reported few changes to the regional fertilizer markets last week. The anhydrous ammonia fill market remained at $510-$525/st FOB in Nebraska, $525-$540/st FOB in Iowa, and up to $550/st FOB in the Missouri market.
Southern Plains: The Southern Plains region continued to experience widespread drought in mid-July, along with powerful storms that raked some areas with damaging winds and large hail. The weather was taking a toll on the region’s crops.
A powerful storm brought baseball-sized hail to the Wichita, Kan., area on July 23, and then moved southeast to deliver 80 mph winds, torrential rains, and hail to Oklahoma’s Tulsa County, causing power outages and flooding.
The July 23 U.S. Drought Monitor continued to show extreme to exceptional drought conditions across all of western Kansas, southeastern Colorado, and most of New Mexico. The worst two drought classifications also persisted in patches across Oklahoma and Texas, although a sizable chunk of central Oklahoma was labeled as drought-free last week.
On the fertilizer pricing front, the anhydrous ammonia market was quoted at $490-$500/st FOB regional production points, with the market out of pipeline terminals in Kansas roughly $20/st higher.
South Central: Sources reported spotty rainfall in Arkansas early in the week, but drier weather followed there and in the Tennessee Valley. By late in the week, however, forecasts called for potentially strong thunderstorms throughout Arkansas, Kentucky, Tennessee, and northern Mississippi.
Plentiful moisture has produced very favorable crop conditions in the region, although too much precipitation was a factor in some locations.
The anhydrous ammonia market had reset since the spring application season, with source
U.S. Gulf: New granular urea trades were reported within the $317-$325/st FOB range last week. Near-term business appeared firm, but market bears claim that August and September will likely bring imports – particularly Chinese product – to put more pressure on pricing.
Prills lost the top end of the prior week’s range, and are now called $335-$337/st FOB. Yara said July 19 that its Libyan facilities are currently running at about 75 percent capacity due to utility issues.
Urea imports were up 26 percent for July-May, falling to 8 million st from the year-ago 6.4 million st. However, they were off 14 percent in May, at 481,953 st from the year-ago 561,178 st.
Eastern Cornbelt: Granular urea pricing was steady at $355-$365/st FOB most river terminals in the Eastern Cornbelt, with the top end of the regional range quoted at the $375/st FOB mark out of inland warehouses.
Western Cornbelt: The granular urea market remained in the $350-$360/st FOB range out of most regional terminals in the Western Cornbelt.
Southern Plains: Granular urea pricing had reportedly slipped to $340-$350/st FOB out of the Tulsa, Okla., market, with Houston pricing pegged at the $390/st FOB level.
South Central: Urea continued to move in topdress applications on rice in the South Central region, but the pace was slowing. USDA placed fully 86 percent of Mississippi’s rice crop in the good or excellent categories last week, compared with 73 percent in Louisiana, 63 percent in Arkansas and Missouri, and 45 percent in Texas.
With demand winding down, sources continued to quote the granular urea market in the $355-$365/st FOB range out of regional terminals for the last bit of rice business.
Southeast: More precipitation hit parts of Georgia, the Carolinas, and southern Alabama last week, with torrential rains and high winds causing power outages and flooding in parts of southern Alabama on July 23.
All the moisture – which some Georgia contacts described as too much – has benefitted crops in parts of the region, but conditions varied widely.
There were no new sales to test the regional urea market. Sources reported the last bit of granular urea business at the $405/st FOB mark out of port terminals.
Pakistan: The TCP tender closed on July 22, and a new tender was quickly called to close July 30. The prices in the just-closed tender were lower than sources had expected.
The lowest offer came from Swiss Singapore at $317/mt CFR for 50,000 mt. In the end, TCP awarded the trading house 75,000 mt. The award means TCP is hoping that its next tender will draw enough support for the additional 225,000 mt.
The government authorized TCP to bypass the usual 30-day notification process to ensure timely delivery of the material. For now, TCP is bound by rules requiring a seven-day notice for the tender. It is also still required to accept only the lowest offer and not engage in negotiations with other companies to match the offer in a move to increase the purchase amount.
U.S. Gulf: Most put barges within the $245-$250/st ($7.66-$7.81/unit) FOB range, with not a lot of interest. Sources speculated that another round of exports may be keeping CF inventories in order and allowing them to hold firm on domestic prices.
Market bears said they could easily wait on the sidelines. There was speculation last week that UAN and ammonia inventories may be more plentiful inland than urea, which reported the softest prices of the three during the season.
UAN imports were off 2 percent in May, to 409,047 st from the year-ago 415,336 st. However, July-May imports were up 10 percent, to 3.67 million st from the year-ago 3.34 million st.
Eastern Cornbelt: Movement of liquid nitrogen in sidedress applications on corn was virtually over in the Eastern Cornbelt.
The low end of the UAN fill market was quoted at the $288/st level for UAN-32 ($9.00/unit) FOB Cincinnati, Ohio, while Illinois sources quoted the market commonly in the $290-$300/st ($9.06-$9.38/unit) FOB range last week. The upper end of the regional range remained at $265/st for UAN-28 ($9.46/unit) FOB Burns Harbor, Ind.
Western Cornbelt: Sources pegged the UAN-32 market at $285-$295/st ($8.91-$9.22/unit) FOB for fill tons in the Western Cornbelt, with the cash market quoted at the $300/st ($9.38/unit) FOB level at the upper end in the region.
Southern Plains: The UAN market in the Southern Plains was down significantly from last report, but pricing covered a wide range in the region.
As of July 22, sources said UAN-32 was down to $265/st ($8.28/unit) FOB Woodward and Verdigris, Okla., while the prompt market out of terminals in Texas remained as high as $310/st ($9.69/unit) FOB at the upper end of the range.
South Central: The UAN-32 market in the South Central region had reportedly fallen to $295-$300/st ($9.22-$9.38/unit) FOB terminals to the dealer, with reports of some suppliers offering spring 2014 prepay tons in that same range.
Southeast: Sources quoted UAN-32 at $275-$295/st ($8.59-$9.22/unit) FOB port terminals in the Southeast, with the upper end out of the Savannah, Ga., market and the low reported out of Norfolk, Va., and Wilmington, N.C.
Sources said UAN-32 vessel business on the East Coast was rumored to have been done at the $275-$276/mt level before the Southwestern Fertilizer Conference, but sources last week said new indications put the market at $280-$282/mt. There was limited supply at either price, however.
U.S. Gulf: Players continued to put the market within the $325-$330/st FOB range, although there was some speculation that an incoming import might tweak that down a tad.
Imports were up 33 percent in May, to 101,586 st from the year-ago 76,443 st. July-May imports were up 27 percent, to 883,143 st from the year-ago 694,772 st.
Western Cornbelt: Ammonium nitrate remained in the $390-$400/st FOB range in the Western Cornbelt.
Southern Plains: The Tulsa ammonium nitrate market remained at $380/st FOB, with some movement reported on pastures after recent rains.
South Central: The ammonium nitrate market remained at $380-$385/st FOB terminals in the South Central region.
Southeast: The Tampa ammonium nitrate market was quoted at $370-$375/st FOB.
U.S. Gulf: Some 32,470 st of ammonium sulfate were imported in May, up 76 percent from the year-ago 18,479 st. Overall, imports were up 11 percent for the July-May period, to 309,194 st from the year-ago 279,336 st.
While the bulk of the AS imports traditionally come in from Canada, sources say China may become a larger source, with a recent cargo and another expected near term.
Eastern Cornbelt: Granular ammonium sulfate remained at $270-$275/st FOB and $280-$290/st DEL in the Eastern Cornbelt. The ammonium thiosulfate market was unchanged at a nominal $350-$360/st FOB in the region.
Western Cornbelt: The granular ammonium sulfate market was steady at $270-$275/st FOB in the region.
Southern Plains: American Plant Food Corp.’s July 8 granular ammonium sulfate postings out of Texas terminals included $250/st FOB Freeport, $260/st FOB Galena Park, $275/st FOB Fort Worth, and $285/st FOB Littlefield. Coarse grade postings are $10/st less than granular at each location, with standard posted at $230/st FOB Freeport and $265/st FOB Littlefield. APF’s N-Pac Compacted posting is $265/st FOB Galena Park.
South Central: Sources pegged the granular ammonium sulfate market at $270-$290/st FOB in the South Central region, down $60-$70/st from last report. APF’s granular ammonium sulfate posting FOB Mermentau, La., dropped to $275/st FOB on July 8, down $80/st from the previous list price at that location.
Southeast: The ammonium sulfate market was resetting in the Southeast last week.
Sources said Honeywell reposted delivered prices into Florida at $285/st for granular and $200/st for standard, and other suppliers were in the process of changing postings late last week.
One factor reportedly impacting the market is the expected arrival in September of imported Chinese compacted tons, which sources said is being quoted at much lower prices.
Central Florida: With the spring season over, movement remained at a crawl last week. Central Florida phosphate prices were lower, mirroring declining prices on the river system and for export. The cost of producing phosphate has gone down during the past month as both sulfur and ammonia have fallen.
Corn and soybeans are behind schedule due to late planting, and the harvest will likely be late this year. Just how late could impact fall applications of phosphate and other fertilizers.
A train hauling ethanol cars derailed at the Port of Tampa early July 25, closing the busy facility for several hours Thursday morning. The spill blocked the entrance to the port, but officials moved the security checkpoint to the exit and moved traffic from both directions through the same gate, so the port was able to reopen.
The price range for Central Florida DAP fell to $425-$435/st FOB last week, down from $435-$450/st FOB. Large customers were getting the best prices. PCS Sales was selling at market prices out of Aurora and White Springs.
MAP continued to bring a $20/st premium over DAP at Central Florida.
U.S. Gulf: The Southwestern Fertilizer Conference produced little in the way of new NOLA phosphate transactions.
Sources continued to report prompt NOLA DAP barges business as low as the $400/st FOB level, give or take. Sources said the reason for lower-priced NOLA deals during the past two weeks was to avoid having to pay demurrage fees on barges. Higher prices were also found, however.
USDA said 63 percent of the national corn crop was in good to excellent condition last week, with only 11 percent rated as poor to very poor. Only 43 percent of the crop was silking, however, compared with 84 percent at this time last year. Soybean conditions were similar, with 64 percent of the national crop in the top categories and only 8 percent in the bottom.
On the futures market, corn, soybean, and wheat prices all took a dive last week. Corn for September dropped to $4.96/bushel from $5.405/bushel the previous week, while corn for December 2013 fell to $4.7875/bushel from $5.00/bushel the previous week. Corn for December 2014 was posted at $5.1025/bushel last week, down from $5.22/bushel the previous week.
Soybeans for August were down to $13.5525/bushel last week, compared with $14.77/bushel a week earlier, while soybean prices for November 2013 moved to $12.24/bushel from the previous week’s $12.68/bushel. Soybeans for November 2014 were posted at $11.9725/bushel, down from $12.31/bushel a week earlier.
Wheat for September 2013 fell to $6.4925/bushel from the previous week’s $6.605/bushel, while wheat for July 2014 dropped to $6.745/bushel last week, down from $6.8675/bushel the previous week. Wheat for July 2015 dropped as well, to $6.9525/bushel from the previous week’s $7.2025/bushel.
The NOLA DAP barge price range last week was quoted in the $397-$410/st FOB range based on actual transactions, compared with $397-$405/st FOB the previous week. More barges were reportedly sold at the upper end of the range, however, suggesting possible signs of new life.
MAP barges were reported in the $435-$440/st FOB NOLA range, but there was minimal new business to test the market.
Eastern Cornbelt: DAP was quoted in the $450-$480/st FOB range in the region, with the low FOB Cincinnati and the upper end inland. MAP was generally $20/st higher than DAP, depending on location.
The 10-34-0 market was tagged at $430-$465/st FOB in the Eastern Cornbelt.
Western Cornbelt: DAP was steady in the $450-$475/st FOB range in the Western Cornbelt, with the higher numbers inland. Most river terminals were reported in the $450-$460/st FOB range in the region last week. MAP was $20/st higher than DAP.
10-34-0 remain
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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.
