Oslo — Yara International ASA said Dec. 5 that its board of directors has approved a $220 million investment to sustain and increase technical ammonium nitrate (TAN) capacity at the Köping site in Sweden. This includes the construction of a new nitric acid plant to replace an existing plant that is approaching the end of its operating life. The total TAN capacity after the upgrade will reach about 450,000 mt/y. "With this investment, Yara further strengthens its position as the largest independent supplier of high quality TAN globally. After the expansion, Köping will be well positioned to efficiently supply growing demand in Nordic markets, as well as continuing to supply global markets," said Torgeir Kvidal, Yara president and CEO. Construction will start in 2015, with completion expected in second-half 2017.
U.S. Gulf/Tampa: Nothing new was reported in the Tampa or NOLA markets last week.
January NYMEX natural gas closed Dec. 4 at $3.649/mmBtu, down significantly from the pre-Thanksgiving $4.403/mmBtu posted on Nov. 25. Sources noted the big drop-off in oil prices and its impact on gas.
Eastern Cornbelt: The ammonia market in the Eastern Cornbelt was unchanged at $650-$660/st FOB regional terminals for spot tons, with no spring prepay offers on the table.
Western Cornbelt: The anhydrous ammonia market in the Western Cornbelt remained at $615-$660/st FOB, with the low in Nebraska and the upper end FOB Palmyra, Mo.
Missouri sources quoted delivered ammonia at $640-$650/st from southern production points. No spring prepay programs were circulating for ammonia yet, sources reported.
California: Anhydrous ammonia was steady at $785/st DEL in California, with aqua ammonia also unchanged at $212/st FOB.
Pacific Northwest: The anhydrous ammonia market had reportedly slipped to $650-$685/st DEL in the Pacific Northwest, depending on location. Aqua ammonia remained at $172-$175/st FOB in the region.
Western Canada: The anhydrous ammonia market remained at $782-$827/mt DEL in Western Canada, depending on location.
India: FACT is back in the market. The cooperative called a tender to close Dec. 8 for two shipments each of 7,500 mt. The first lot is to arrive at the FACT facility at Kochi Dec. 26-30. The second lot must arrive Jan. 6-10, 2015.
The tender call came on the heels of FACT awarding a 3,000 mt deal to CIFL for $615/mt CFR the last week of November.
Sources report that CIFL is sourcing its product out of Iran. Iran has played a growing role in the FACT tenders. Sources say a major enticement has been the willingness of the Iranian producers to offer prices $20-$30/mt lower than what industry watchers calculate is the current Arab contract price.
The estimated freight on the Iranian cargo is about $50/mt, leaving a netback of $565/mt FOB into Iran.
Middle East: The Arab producers in the Gulf remain happy with their contracts and see no reason to go chasing after business.
Sources report the last bit of public business was several weeks ago, when Mitsubishi took a cargo from PIC at a reported $620/mt FOB. One trader said other prices floating around ranged from $615-$635/mt FOB. It all depended on who was doing the talking, he said.
The confidence of the Arab producers rests with all the contracts they hold. Sources say spot tons from an Arab producer are few and far between, and then only when the price is very high.
Between managed reductions in production and long-term contracts, the Arab producers have little reason to be aggressive in seeking new business.
The one main spot player in the area has been Iran. Sources put the netback for the small order it got from FACT/India at $565/mt FOB. The order was for only 3,000 mt. One observer warned against making too much out of the price for such a small amount.
A new number may pop up this week when FACT closes its tender for two cargoes of 7,500 mt each to be shipped between Dec. 26 and Jan. 10. Sources expect Iran to take the business, if for no other reason than it is willing to offer deep discounts for its product.
Black Sea: Sources say the market in the region can best be described as confusing.
There are reports of material from OPZ sitting unsold at Yuzhnyy, while other material keeps flowing out.
Part of the issue, say sources, is that producers in the region are asking more than buyers are willing to pay. The producers’ perception that they de
U.S. Gulf: New prompt business spanned a broader range at $305-$319/st FOB last week, up from the prior week’s $305-$312/st FOB. January was put in the $315-$320/st FOB range, and February about $5/st higher.
Recent prills were put in the $315-$328/st FOB range.
Eastern Cornbelt: The granular urea market remained at $345-$365/st FOB in the Eastern Cornbelt, with the low end reported FOB Cincinnati, Ohio, and spot river locations in Illinois.
Western Cornbelt: The granular urea market was generally quoted in the $350-$360/st FOB range in the Western Cornbelt.
California: The granular urea market was tagged at $410-$415/st FOB in California. No current delivered prices were reported in the state last week.
Pacific Northwest: Granular urea was steady at $380-$390/st FOB coastal terminals in the Pacific Northwest. There were reports of poor quality Chinese tons available on a spot basis for as low as $365/st FOB, but sales at that level were not confirmed.
Delivered urea remained at $390-$420/st in the region, depending on location.
Western Canada: The granular urea market was tagged at $535-$560/mt DEL in Western Canada, up $25-$30/mt from last report.
India: Indian Potash Ltd. (IPL) closed a tender Dec. 3. The offers showed a marked reduction in pricing ideas from sellers.
More than 2 million tons were offered by 23 companies. Sources expect IPL to take about 1 million mt once the dust settles.
The lowest price came from Trammo at $299.97/mt CFR into Krishnapatnam, setting the base number for all east coast ports. A large group of other offers focused on the $302-$305/mt CFR range.
U.S. Gulf: After a flurry of pre-Thanksgiving business in the UAN market, sources said the barge scene had settled down, though forward price ideas are firm in the $250-$255/st FOB range for January, and $255-$260/st FOB range for February.
The last done NOLA numbers were put in the $245-$250/st ($7.66-$7.81/unit) FOB range.
Vessel price ideas were up, with sellers reportedly now eyeing $280-$285/mt CFR. Sources said buyers have not bitten at those higher numbers to date, however, with the last trades at $265-$268/mt CFR.
Eastern Cornbelt: The low end of the UAN-28 market was pegged at $255/st ($9.11/unit) FOB for prompt and $260-$262/st ($9.29-$9.36/unit) FOB for spring prepay in the Indiana and Ohio markets last week.
Rail-delivered UAN-32 had reportedly inched up to $315/st ($9.84/unit) in the Eastern Cornbelt, while UAN-32 terminal postings had firmed to $299-$308/st ($9.34-$9.63/unit) FOB, depending on location.
Western Cornbelt: Prompt UAN-32 continued to be quoted at $285-$295/st ($8.91-$9.22/unit) FOB in the Western Cornbelt, depending on location, with the low reported in southern Missouri.
Postings were on the rise, however, with sources referring to new numbers in the $299-$305/st ($9.34-$9.53/unit) FOB range. There were reports as well of spring prepay offers at the $305/st ($9.53/unit) FOB level or higher in the region.
California: The UAN-32 market was pegged at $295-$300/st ($9.22-$9.38/unit) FOB import terminals in California, with delivered tons reported at $320-$330/st ($10.00-$10.31/unit) in the state, depending on location.
Pacific Northwest: The UAN-32 market was unchanged at $345-$355/st ($10.78-$11.09/unit) DEL in the Pacific Northwest.
Western Canada: UAN-28 pricing was steady at $344-$359/mt ($12.29-$12.82/unit) DEL in Western Canada.
U.S. Gulf: The NOLA barge market remained at a very flat, very inactive $305/st FOB.
In the meantime, the Tampa ammonium nitrate market is called $365-$370/st FOB. Dreymoor discharged 32,000 mt from the MV OrientTokyo during Thanksgiving week.
Western Cornbelt: Ammonium nitrate was tagged at $345-$355/st FOB in the Western Cornbelt, with the low end of the range reported in Missouri on a spot basis.
California: No market was reported for agricultural grade ammonium nitrate in California.
Simplot announced a $17/st increase for CAN-17, with reference prices moving up to $329-$339/st FOB Helm and $349-$359/st FOB El Centro. Other regional sources continued to quote the low end of the California CAN-17 range at $325/st FOB deep water ports last week.
AN-20 remained at a firm $315/st DEL in California.
Pacific Northwest: No market was reported for agricultural grade ammonium nitrate in the Pacific Northwest.
CAN-17 was unchanged at $338/st FOB and $343-$348/st rail-DEL for the last done business in the region.
AN-20 remained at $260/st FOB Kennewick, Wash., and $270/st rail-DEL in the Pacific Northwest.
Eastern Cornbelt: Honeywell’s granular ammonium sulfate postings firmed on Dec. 1 to $310/st FOB Illinois terminals at Danville and Granite City, and Wisconsin terminals at Amherst Junction and Prairie du Chien. Honeywell’s mid-grade postings moved to $270/st FOB Danville, and Byron, Ill., and the company’s rail-delivered postings firmed to $320/st for granular and $280/st for mid-grade in Illinois and Wisconsin.
Those levels reflect a $10/st increase from Honeywell’s Sept. 12 granular ammonium sulfate postings, and a $5/st increase for mid-grade.
Ammonium thiosulfate was quoted at $310-$330/st FOB in the Eastern Cornbelt, depending on location.
Western Cornbelt: Honeywell announced higher granular and mid-grade ammonium sulfate postings, effective Dec. 1. The new postings include granular at $310/st FOB Dubuque, Iowa, and Roseport, Minn., and $315/st FOB Sioux City, Iowa, with mid-grade moving to $270/st FOB Roseport.
Honeywell’s rail-delivered ammonium sulfate postings firmed on Dec. 1 to $320/st for granular and $280/st for mid-grade in Iowa and Minnesota. The new FOB and DEL levels reflect a $10-$15/st increase from Honeywell’s Sept. 12 granular ammonium sulfate postings, depending on location, and a $5/st increase for mid-grade
American Plant Food Corp. (APF) also announced new ammonium sulfate postings, effective Dec. 8, which reflect a $10/st increase from the company’s Oct. 1 list prices. APF granular postings in Texas will firm on Dec. 8 to $250/st FOB Freeport, $260/st FOB Galena Park, $275/st FOB Fort Worth, and $285/st FOB Littlefield. Granular ammonium sulfate FOB Mermentau, La., will also move up on Dec. 8 to $275/st.
APF’s coarse grade postings will firm on Dec. 8 to $240/st FOB Freeport, $250/st FOB Galena Park, $265/st FOB Fort Worth, and $275/st FOB Littlefield, while standard grade ammonium sulfate postings will move to $230/st FOB Freeport and $265/st FOB Littlefield. APF’s N-Pac Compacted posting will firm on Dec. 8 to $260/st FOB Galena Park.
The ammonium thiosulfate market was steady at $300-$315/st FOB in the Western Cornbelt.
California: Simplot’s ammonium sulfate posting FOB Lathrop was reportedly up $20/st as of Nov. 25, to $265-$270/st FOB. IRM remained at $290/st FOB Chico for Tranzform and WesternPremium, with WesternStandard unchanged at $240/st FOB Chico and Woodland.
Ammonium thiosulfate was steady at $300/st FOB Stockton.
Pacific Northwest: Agrium announced new granular ammonium sulfate postings, effective Nov. 24. The new prices include $343/st FOB warehouses and $348/st DEL in Washington, Oregon, Idaho, Utah, and Nevada. New delivered postings in Montana and Wyoming moved to the $348/st level on that date. The new levels reflect a $25/st increase from Agrium’s July 1 postings in the region.
IRM remained at $275/st FOB and $285/st DEL for Tranzform and WesternPremium ammonium sulfate in the Pacific Northwest, however, with WesternStandard referenced at $198/st FOB and $208/st DEL in Oregon, Washington, Idaho, and Montana.
Ammonium thiosulfate was steady at $310-$320/st FOB in the Pacific Northwest, with the low FOB Kennewick and the upper end FOB Ritzville, Wash.
Western Canada: Granular ammonium sulfate pricing in Western Canada had reportedly firmed $20/mt, to $430-$435/mt DEL.
Central Florida: Last week was quiet on the Central Florida market. The lack of activity kept prices steady, but observers cited a new wrinkle in Mosaic’s pricing strategy for the region, the effects of which were up for speculation.
Mosaic declined to post prices for MAP and DAP railcars last week, citing CSX’s decision to discontinue posting freight rates publicly. Rail operators experienced pronounced tightness at times in 2014, and Mosaic previously alluded to what it believed would be a difficult winter logistics season.
Some believed the move signaled an openness to lower-priced, high-volume bids. But others countered that this scenario doesn’t track with Mosaic’s production cuts, contending that the producer would be happy to divert production to the more-lucrative offshore market while waiting for demand to firm in Central Florida. Rather than simply declining to post prices, they speculated, Mosaic would not offer product at all for the short term, at least not at volume. Mosaic’s posted price for DAP trucks was $430/st FOB.
Last done in Central Florida was quoted in a range of $425-$435/st FOB, with truck sales accounting for the higher levels. MAP, though believed to be unavailable, was expected to command a $20/st FOB premium to MAP.
U.S. Gulf: Barge prices firmed in a quiet week of trading, sources said. Early week DAP trades were reported around $412-$415/st FOB, before rising to as high as $420/st FOB at the end of the week.
The upward trajectory began early in the holiday week, though a handful of $410/st FOB transactions were reported dating to Nov. 26. Sources debated whether $410/st FOB DAP could still be had, and most concluded the market had moved higher. The January market pushed up as well, with prices quoted in the $420-$425/st FOB range.
Chinese DAP returned to the market last week, sources said. The material was said to be priced on par with domestic product and selling at $415/st FOB early in the week, with offers firming to $420/st FOB later on. Some market watchers claimed the imported DAP was not offered at NOLA, but was instead parked at destinations in St. Louis or Inola, and netted back to NOLA values.
The material was believed to be of similar quality to the better Chinese cargoes imported earlier in the year, which one contact called “surprisingly good” and unlike the hit-or-miss quality of phosphates imported from China in previous years.
MAP failed to keep step with DAP. Demand for MAP has eroded, leaving it priced around $430-$435/st FOB.
Few were surprised by the rising DAP values, and sources pointed to a number of potential causes. Supply was one likely instigator. Reduced NOLA inventories have left the river undersupplied. “There is a thin inventory of barges on the river,” one trader said. “There’s been a little movement (at warehouses) and people want to refill. It’s not so much that there’s a lot of trading (pushing up prices), but that it’s so thin.”
Strengthening grain prices also were a factor. The combination of rising corn futures and historically high yields has made farmers more comfortable than at any time in the last eight weeks, one source said.
End-users are also faced with a deadline – the end of the 2014 fiscal year. “Farmers didn’t get as much on fields as they wanted to because of the harvest stretching out this year,” said one source. “And now it’s getting to the end of the year and they have to get rid of some money. They’ve already bought what they can equipment-wise, so now it’s feed and fertilizer.”
The NOLA DAP market firmed to a range of $410-$420/st FOB, with the lower end of the range logged in Thanksgiving-week trading. MAP was called $430-
U.S. Gulf: Recent NOLA barge trades were quoted a little higher at $370-$373/st FOB. Some questioned the reason for higher numbers, however, arguing that forward cargoes could have put a lid on prices.
Eastern Cornbelt: Potash was unchanged at $410-$417/st FOB in the Eastern Cornbelt, with the low for red and the upper end for white granular tons.
Western Cornbelt: Potash pricing remained at $410-$417/st FOB regional warehouses in the Western Cornbelt, with the low for red granular tons and the upper end for white.
California: Potash was steady at $518-$535/st FOB warehouses in California, depending on grade and location, with the low for 60 percent and the upper end for 62 percent granular or soluble. Delivered potash remained at $525-$535/st in the state.
Crystalline potassium nitrate was unchanged at $950/st FOB for bulk and $1,020/st FOB for bags.
Sulfate of potash (SOP) remained in tight supply at $720-$735/st FOB for any available tons.
Pacific Northwest: The potash market remained at $465-$480/st FOB or DEL in the Pacific Northwest, depending on grade and location. Intrepid’s reference prices out of mine locations in Utah were reported at $420/st FOB for 60 percent standard and $425/st FOB for 60 percent granular.
The SOP Magnesia market was quoted at $461-$481/st FOB in the Pacific Northwest.
Western Canada: The regional potash market was steady at $470-$480/mt FOB inland warehouses in Western Canada, with the Saskatchewan mine price quoted at $445-$450/mt FOB to Canadian customers.
Tampa: Inclement weather reported in the northern U.S. in recent weeks failed to appreciably impact refinery operations, sources said, and domestic supply remained ample.
The fourth-quarter price of molten sulfur at Tampa was $129/lt CFR.
U.S. refinery utilization realized its fifth straight week of increases, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration. Refinery capacity rose to 93.4 percent for the week ending Nov. 28, a jump of 1.9 percent from the previous week’s 91.5 percent, and also higher than last year’s 92.4 percent and the five-year average of 88.7 percent.
Average daily inputs swelled to 16.356 million barrels/d, an increase of 399,000 barrels/d from the week before.
U.S. Gulf: Sulfur sold from the Gulf of Mexico was unchanged at $130-$135/mt FOB.
Mexican sulfur producer Pemex estimates it will produce 4 percent less sulfur in 2015 due to a series of planned maintenance periods. The stoppages are expected to result in the company’s smallest yearly production total since 2011.
Vancouver: Elevated prices at China held last week, sources said, supporting Vancouver spot at levels above $140/mt FOB. Fourth-quarter contracts were called $135-$150/mt FOB.
Albert sulfur was quoted at (-)$10-$75/mt.
West Coast: The West Coast prill market was unchanged at $135-$140/mt FOB.
The fourth-quarter molten price was $90-$130/lt FOB.
Caribbean: Atlantic Basin Refining (ABR) announced plans to resuscitate the Hovensa LLC refinery in St. Croix, offline since January 2012. ABR agreed to terms with previous owners Hess Corp and Venezuelan state-run oil company PDVSA in November.
The 300,000 barrel/d refinery was once the largest in the western hemisphere, but a scarcity of heavy Venezuelan crude inputs forced the plant to close. ABR plans to upgrade the refinery to process light, sweet crude produced from shale drilling.
Benelux: The sulfur price at Benelux was $158-$172/mt FOB for the third quarter.
ADNOC: The November ADNOC price was $135/mt FOB.
Aramco: The price of Aramco sulfur is $125/mt FOB for December.
A dispute with a Korean engineering contractor has delayed construction on Saudi Aramco’s planned 400,000 barrel/d Jizan refinery, sources said. The $7 billion facility, originally anticipated to begin production in 2016, has suffered from numerous delays and design changes since Aramco awarded contracts in 2012.
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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.
