U.S. Gulf: The NOLA market is put at $340/st FOB, with upriver barges receiving a premium.
Western Cornbelt: The ammonium nitrate market in the Western Cornbelt continued to be quoted at $400-$405/st FOB for the last business, but no new sales were reported to test the market.
Southern Plains: The Tulsa ammonium nitrate market was quoted at $370-$380/st FOB, down $10/st from last report.
South Central: Ammonium nitrate was pegged at $390-$400/st FOB terminals in the South Central region.
Southeast: The Tampa ammonium nitrate market remained at $395-$405/st FOB.
Miller, S.D. — Wilbur-Ellis Co. is building a fertilizer plant in Miller, S.D., with capacity to hold 13,500 st of dry fertilizer, and 2,000 st of liquid fertilizer. “As we continue our growth in this area and around South Dakota, we focus on keeping up with and investing in our customers’ needs, and that need is to have a regular supply of quality fertilizer delivered in a timely manner,” said Matt Christopherson, area manager for Wilbur-Ellis. The company says the one-of-a-kind, high-tech facility features a high-speed horizontal blender with an extremely efficient process for loading blended product. Wilbur-Ellis says there is a continuing struggle in the fertilizer industry around infrastructure and transportation, and that this investment in the local geography will help the company better serve their customers. “This investment is being made to help service our customers and their growing needs during these exciting times in agriculture with changing landscapes, including advanced cropping systems, and as such, we have seen a tremendous need to increase our fertilizer capacities,” added Christopherson. The facility is expected to open January 2015. Wilbur-Ellis is currently seeking to hire a plant manager for the facility, who will work with branch manager Darryl Chapin.
Tampa: Sources noted a slow week thanks to the Friday holiday. “My phone hasn’t rang in over an hour,” said one trader.
Third-quarter negotiations for the price of molten sulfur delivered to Tampa had largely been put on hold thanks to an abundance of vacation days taken industry-wide. Talking points have purportedly centered on current supply and demand conditions worldwide, which in North America meant strong drive-time production from refineries and newly resumed shipments from Alberta Oil Sands-based producers buttressing market quantities.
Rising international prices have factored in as well, sources said, with one point of contention centering on the sustainability of those ballooning levels.
Negotiators for domestic end-users have reportedly argued that international price increases are the result of trader-to-trader speculative sales rather than actual end-user demand, and therefore are a nonfactor in determining prices closer to home. Suppliers, however, are likely to push for domestic increases to edge levels closer to parity with the international markets.
U.S. refinery operating capacity spiked for the week ending June 27, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration (USEIA), as a greater number of refineries completed the shift into summer drive time gasoline production.
The USEIA put refinery utilization at 91.4 percent, a jump of 2.9 percent from the previous week’s 88.5 percent. The rate was lower than the 92.2 percent recorded for the same week in 2013, but beat the five-year average of 90.4 percent.
The second-quarter price of sulfur delivered to Tampa was $133/lt.
U.S. Gulf: The Gulf export market remained in a range of $130-$140/mt FOB, though suppliers expected short-term sales to push levels closer to $135-$145/mt FOB.
Vancouver: Rising international levels were reportedly keeping prices firm at Vancouver, where sources said Chinese bidders represented a hefty percentage of current demand. Prices were steady in a range of $140-$160/mt FOB.
The price of sulfur shipped from Alberta was pegged in a wide range at (-)$20-$80/mt, depending on location.
West Coast: Sulfur sold from the West Coast was called $130-$140/mt FOB, though sources speculated that prices could rise in coming weeks based on increases in the Vancouver market.
Benelux: Benelux sulfur was listed at $158-$172/mt for the second quarter.
ADNOC: The June price of ADNOC sulfur was $150/mt. An updated price for July is anticipated shortly.
U.S. Gulf: Potash barges remained in tight supply, and were still put at $360-$365/st FOB.
Eastern Cornbelt: The potash market remained at a firm $390-$397/st FOB regional warehouses in the Eastern Cornbelt, with the low for red granular and the high for white granular tons.
Western Cornbelt: The potash market was quoted at a firm $390/st FOB in the Western Cornbelt for new sales.
Southern Plains: Potash pricing out of regional warehouses in the Southern Plains was quoted at a firm $390/st FOB in early July, up $10-$20/st from last report.
Potash pricing out of the Carlsbad, N.M., market had firmed as well. Intrepid’s May 30 agricultural grade potash postings FOB Carlsbad included $385/st for 60 percent standard, $390/st for 60 percent granular and 62 percent standard, and $397/st for 62 percent granular and 62 percent Super Sol.
Intrepid’s Trio (sulfate of potash magnesia) postings FOB Carlsbad included $365/st for standard, $375/st for granular, and $380/st for premium.
South Central: The potash market was quoted at $380-$390/st FOB warehouses in the South Central region, up slightly from last report, with the low reported in the Memphis market.
Southeast: The potash market was quoted at $390-$395/st rail-DEL in the Southeast, with the warehouse market pegged at the $390/st FOB level. “I ordered some summer and fall tons at this price, just to make sure we had some,” said one regional contact.
Central Florida: The Central Florida market saw little activity in the short week, though resellers quoted DAP prices steady in a range of $430-$435/st FOB for rail-loaded product. Truck sales carried a premium, and were quoted up to $440/st FOB.
States along the Eastern Seaboard braced for rough weather late in the week as Tropical Storm Arthur was projected to scrape its way northward along the coast. Arthur was projected to become a hurricane ahead of the July 4 weekend.
Traders called Central Florida DAP $430-$440/st FOB based on offers and limited sales, unchanged from the week before. Sources said MAP sales were few and far between, and prices were expected to run $20/st FOB higher than DAP.
U.S. Gulf: Heavy rains in the Midwest caused flooding and dangerously high river levels on the upper Ohio and Mississippi Rivers. Coupled with the holiday-shortened week, the NOLA barge market was especially quiet.
High water forced lock closures from St. Paul, Minn. to Burlington, Iowa, on the upper Mississippi, and at least six Midwestern states – Minnesota, Iowa, Illinois, Missouri, and North and South Dakota – were said to experience significant flooding.
The river as of July 2 remained at flood stage from St. Paul to just north of St. Louis, Mo., and sources said torrential rains that measured 3-5 inches in some locations had drowned crops in Iowa, Wisconsin, and Minnesota.
Nearby trades were practically nonexistent, sources said, and producers’ offer levels were called $440-$445/st FOB for DAP. The most recent transactions were reported to have been concluded in the $430-$440/st FOB range.
Open origin/open color offers for phosphates set to begin arriving at the end of the month were put around $430-$435/st FOB for light-colored Russian or Chinese DAP, while darker material was said to command $435-$445/st FOB. The prices were thought to be good through September.
Industry watchers who had previously feared that a deluge of imported material would suppress NOLA prices generally held a rosier outlook last week, as a portion of the Chinese and Russian-sourced vessels originally bound for the U.S. were believed to have been diverted to international buyers.
Supply was said to be relatively tight until offshore product arrives. Sources said one domestic producer was exclusively dedicated to supplying the NOLA market based on current price levels, while another was thought to offer relatively limited quantities domestically while meeting considerable international commitments.
Should international prices continue to rise, however, more domestic product is likely to find itself on the export block, sources said, which could push up prices at home.
Paper prices rebounded after a substantial dip the previous week, with sources claiming transactions of up to $440/st FOB for September, up from an average $420/st FOB in the previous reporting period.
Warehouse operators said volume continued to trickle out, and small-volume DAP sales were reported at levels of $475-$490/st FOB on the lower river and $485-$510/st FOB on the upper.
Prompt prices on the DAP barge market were unchanged from the previous week at $430-$440/st FOB, based on a dearth of nearby trades. MAP was thought to command an additional $20-$25/st FOB over DAP.
A 4 p.m. look at the futures market on July 2 saw corn and soybeans down from the previous week, while wheat contracts were mixed.
September 2014 corn was posted at $4.1225/bushel, down from the previous week’s $4.39/bushel, and corn for December 2014 had slipped to $4.18/bushel from $4.4325/bushel the week before. Contracts for March 2015 corn were $4.2925/bushel.
Soybean prices for August 2014 were $13.1475/bushel, down from the previous week’s $13.8175/bushel. Novem
Eastern Cornbelt: Granular ammonium sulfate remained at $290-$305/st FOB in the Eastern Cornbelt, depending on location.
Ammonium thiosulfate was steady at $345-$360/st FOB in the region.
Western Cornbelt: Granular ammonium sulfate was tagged at $280-$290/st FOB in the Western Cornbelt.
Ammonium thiosulfate was reported at $315-$325/st FOB in the region. One Iowa contact pegged the common dealer market at the $320/st FOB level in early July.
Southern Plains: The granular ammonium sulfate market remained at $260-$295/st FOB Texas shipping points, with the low FOB Freeport and the upper end FOB Littlefield and Plainview. Coarse grade was $10/st lower, and standard $20/st lower than granular.
The ammonium thiosulfate market was pegged at $310-$320/st FOB in the Southern Plains.
South Central: Granular ammonium sulfate was quoted at $275-$280/st FOB in the South Central region in early July.
The ammonium thiosulfate market was reported at $310-$315/st FOB, with the low at Memphis.
Southeast: Granular ammonium sulfate was pegged at $270-$280/st FOB in the Southeast, depending on location, with delivered pricing holding at $290/st in the Carolinas, $300/st in Georgia and Alabama, and $305/st in Florida. Standard grade ammonium sulfate remained at reference levels of $210/st FOB Augusta, Ga., and $230/st DEL in Florida.
Saskatoon — Potash Corp. of Saskatchewan Inc. said June 30 it has begun the recall process at its Lanigan, Sask., facility to reinstate 47 permanent employees. The company said the recall reflects ongoing tightness in the granular potash market. This follows a 50-employee call back at its Penobsquis, N.B., facility June 16 (GM June 23, p. 13).
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.
