Tokyo-Toyo Engineering Corp. and PT Inti Karya Persada Teknik have jointly received a notice of bidding award for a fertilizer project from the state-owned Indonesian fertilizer company PT Pupuk Kalimantan Timur (Kaltim). The plant will be constructed in Bontang, East Kalimantan, Indonesia. The contract is for engineering, procurement, and construction (EPC) services on a lump-sum turnkey basis. As Kaltim currently operates four plants in Indonesia, the new plant will be their fifth in that country. With a production capacity of 2,700 mt/d of ammonia and 3,500 mt/d of urea plus utilities facilities, the new plant is in the largest class in the world. The bidding started in September 2010. A total of five groups from Europe, Korea, and Japan bid for the project, with Toyo’s group overcoming the competition to receive the order. Toyo says the new plant will be the 100th urea plant using Toyo’s proprietary ACES21® urea synthesis technology and urea granulation technology that the company has built in areas spanning the globe.
Tampa/U.S. Gulf: Tampa prices for April moved to $555/mt DEL, up $10/mt from March’s $545/mt DEL.
Eastern Cornbelt:Anhydrous ammonia was steady at $665-$685/st FOB regional terminals to the dealer, depending on location and time of delivery, with the low quoted on a spot basis in the Illinois market.
Western Cornbelt:Anhydrous ammonia pricing was unchanged at $640-$660/st FOB regional terminals to the dealer.
Northern Plains:Delivered ammonia pricing in the North Dakota market ranged widely from $720-$760/st for spring tons, depending on supplier. Minnesota sources tagged the dealer market for ammonia in the $660-$673/st range FOB terminals.
Eastern Canada:Ontario sources quoted the anhydrous ammonia market solidly at the $770/mt FOB level to the dealer. One Ontario contact noted that last year at this time, a few growers in his location were already trying to plant some corn. This year, by contrast, most areas are either snow-covered or wet in the region. A New Brunswick dealer said growers will be out of the field in his trade area for at least another four weeks.
Black Sea: The increase in the Tampa price should indicate a rise in Yuzhnyy as well, say sources. The $10/mt jump in price to $555/mt CFR translates to $495/mt FOB in Yuzhnyy. With some variations allowed in freight and negotiations, the best guess for a price range is $490-$500/mt FOB.
UREA
U.S. Gulf: Granular barge prices continued to erode last week, with new prompt trades reported as low as $315/st FOB later in the week. Others put the week’s high at $330/st FOB.
In the meantime, prill prices remain hard to gauge due to short supply and the lack of fresh business. Yara is sitting on Libyan prill barges until it gets final clearance to sell them from the U.S. government due to the intervening sanctions against Libya.
There were also reports that Romanian prill production is offline, further tightening the market.
Eastern Cornbelt: Sources pegged the dealer market for granular urea in the $390-$395/st FOB range in the Illinois market last week, reflecting another drop from last report. The upper end was pegged at the $400/st FOB level in Ohio on a spot basis.<
Western Cornbelt:Sources continued to report some topdress movement on winter wheat in the region, as weather and field conditions allowed.
Granular urea pricing had reportedly slipped to $375-$390/st FOB river terminals in the region. In the Southern Plains market, sources said warehouse urea prices had dropped to the $360-$370/st FOB range in late March.
Northern Plains:Granular urea pricing had reportedly slipped to $380-$395/st FOB river terminals in southern Minnesota, with delivered tons pegged in the $445-$455/st range in the North Dakota market.
Northeast:Sources continued to quote the Philadelphia urea market at the $425/st FOB level. Sources cited limited inventories from suppliers who positioned tons earlier as the reason the market has not slipped in response to lower barge pricing at the U.S. Gulf.
Eastern Canada:Granular urea pricing was up from last report at $525-$535/mt FOB in the region. An Ontario source said growers were moving a little urea, ammonium sulfate, and potash blends for wheat topdressing in dry areas east of Toronto, but most other locations remained snow-covered or wet.
India: The IPL tender confirmed two key points about the current state of the urea market: 1) Prices are soft; and 2) Iranian tons continue to dominate the Indian market.
Yara International ASA reports that Terje Bakken, head of the Supply & Trade unit, has resigned. He will be succeeded by Torgeir Kvidal, presently senior vice president, investor relations, effective April 1. “I would like to thank Terje Bakken for the value he has created for Yara over many years. As he has chosen to pursue his career outside of Yara, I want to congratulate him on his new position,” said Jørgen Ole Haslestad, Yara president and CEO. Bakken will take up a new position as CEO of Trygg Pharma AS, a 50/50 jv between Aker BioMarine ASA and Lindsay Goldberg LLC. As a result, and effective immediately, Bakken is no longer part of Yara’s executive management team; however, he remains a Yara employee in the transitional period of up to three months. Supply & Trade is Yara’s business unit responsible for global optimization of energy and raw materials purchases, ammonia trade and shipping, maritime logistics, third-party sourcing, and feed phosphates.
Newton Falls, Ohio-Some 200 residents in an eight-block area were evacuated from their homes for more than eight hours while crews assessed the danger of an anhydrous ammonia release as the result of 14 cars derailing on an 111-car CSX Transportation train here last Monday (March 28). “We were dealing with hazmat tankers as well as other hazardous material,” NF Joint Fire District Chief Richard Bauman told Green Markets. “None of the tankers, thank goodness, were involved in the derailment.” There were no details released by CSX and Bauman didn’t know the exact number, but he said a few of the tankers carried anhydrous ammonia. The CSX release stated that there were no injuries, no leaks and no loaded chemical cars among those derailed. Hazmat crews in fully encapsulated suits used a four-wheel Gator vehicle to inspect the cars for leaks. The ground searching parties were assisted by a helicopter from the Ohio State Patrol. The Newton Falls community center was set up for the evacuated families, but only 15 of the 200, including two children and 13 adults, gathered at that location. “The others probably went to stay with family members,” Bauman suggested. By Tuesday the derailed cars had been removed to a nearby parking lot. CSX said the track was cleared and placed back in service Tuesday at noon. An investigation is underway, but it is likely to take several days before a cause is established. The train was en route from Willard, Ohio, to Cumberland, Md.
Nashville and Frankfort-Tennessee and Kentucky authorities are clamping down on rapidly growing sales of what is considered a dangerous recreational drug being marketed as a fertilizer under the labels of Molly’s Plant Food or Happy Plant Food. They are warning users that they risk severe physical and psychological side effects. “This so called plant food is nothing short of a very dangerous drug,” warned Dr. Sullivan Smith, an emergency services medical director, who warned the Tennessee legislature that “calling it a plant food is just a way around the law, which would place this drug into the same classification as heroin and LSD.” Joining with the state department of agriculture, the Tennessee attorney general’s office has carried out a statewide seizure of Molly’s Plant Food. One product sample that was seized from a defendant’s business and put under analysis contained 3.75 percent nitrogen, making it a fertilizer and thus subject to regulation by the department of agriculture. In addition, the attorney general’s office has filed suit, asking for a temporary restraining order to stop the defendants from selling the product. Atty. Gen. Bob Cooper added, “We are glad that current law gives us a way to get this product off the shelves while the legislature considers stiffer penalties.” In Kentucky, Gov. Steve Beshear late last month signed into law legislation banning such new synthetic drugs. “This bill gives law enforcement another tool to protect Kentuckians from substances that are engineered specifically to mimic illegal dangerous drugs and allows Kentucky to keep pace with an ever-changing drug market,” Gov. Beshear declared. Under this new law, manufacturing or trafficking in the substance is a Class A misdemeanor and possession is a Class B misdemeanor. In addition, a possible patent-infringement suit is under consideration by owners of Happy Plant, a legitimate business that produces a popular nutrient-rich soil amendment from humate mined in central Utah. Happy Plant’s Dan Turrel told Green Markets, “Not only does it infringe on our registered trademark; it is potentially damaging to our good name … as well as all small package plant food products.” Turrel described the illegal substance as “a white powder that’s put into capsules and dissolved in a liquid drink (where) ours is an organic humate-based product loaded with micro-nutrients.” He added that the illegal drug is probably coming from the UK.
Cairo-Orascom Construction Industries (OCI), Cairo, has signed a Memorandum of Understanding with Maire Tecnimont to explore potential fertilizer opportunities in sub-Saharan Africa. The 50-50 joint partnership will take charge of all aspects of proposed projects, including engineering, procurement and construction, licensing, plant operations, equity participation, partnership, and debt financing arrangements. OCI and Maire Tecnimont are currently collaborating on the Borouge 3 Polyolefin Units and Utilities and off-site facilities in Ruwais, Abu Dhabi. OCI signed US$146 million worth of construction contracts with Tecnimont SpA/Samsung Engineering Co. Ltd. joint venture to execute piling, civil works, and buildings for the project.
Boise-The J.R. Simplot Co. has announced plans to build a new fertilizer storage and blending facility in Caldwell, Idaho, to replace the current warehouse that has been located there since 1974. “This new state-of-the-art facility will allow Simplot to introduce new products and to provide an enhanced level of service to our customers in Southwestern Idaho,” said Dave Dufault, vice-president and general manager of Simplot’s AgriBusiness Group retail business. “This project ties directly to our long-term strategy to establish highly efficient distribution systems in key markets. Idaho is not only Simplot’s home base, but a strategic area for us to grow our retail presence due to its rich and diverse agricultural marketplace. Our customers will find that the new facility offers a much broader range of services, including an advanced seed and crop nutrient blending system that will give us additional capacity with the highest of uniformity.” Construction on the new facility, which will have three times the capacity of the previous warehouse, is scheduled to begin in six-to-eight weeks and should be completed this fall.
Oklahoma City-Chaparral Energy’s CO2 subsidiary said March 29 that it has executed a long-term carbon dioxide (CO2) purchase and sale agreement with a subsidiary of CVR Energy for capture of CO2 from CVR’s Coffeyville, Kans., nitrogen fertilizer plant. The agreement provides for the purchase of CO2 for Chaparral’s initiation of enhanced oil recovery operations in its North Burbank Unit in northeastern Oklahoma. CVR’s nitrogen plant currently produces 850,000 st/y (40 MMscf/d) of CO2. In this new project, almost all of the fertilizer plant’s CO2 will be captured by Chaparral, who will construct a CO2 compression facility at the plant site and install approximately 70 miles of pipeline to deliver the CO2 to its North Burbank Unit in Osage County. Injection is expected to commence no later than July, 2013.
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.
