Drew Taylor has joined Yargus Manufacturing Inc., Marshall, Ill., as vice president, North American Sales. He will coordinate sales and negotiation for Yargus’s Layco line of material handling equipment in the Canadian and Eastern U.S. markets, as well as work with national/global accounts.
Taylor has extensive experience in sales and marketing in the agricultural chemical market. He was most recently with H.J. Baker & Bro. Inc. as director, product management and international business for Baker subsidiary Tiger-Sul. He also served as general manager of Tiger-Sul in the Eastern U.S., as well as Baker’s Eastern regional sales manager. He has also worked for Ag Chem Equipment Co., and Agriturf Inc.
Taylor grew up in farming and in a retail fertilizer business environment, and currently operates his own regional farm business in New Hampshire. He is a graduate of Purdue University with a degree in Agricultural Economics.
Minsk — OAO Uralkali CEO Vladislav Baumgertner remained in custody in the Belarusian KGB pre-trial detention center last week, charged with abuse of office as chairman of Belarusian Potash Co. (BPC). On Sept. 6, a Belarusian judge rejected the latest pleas for his release. This despite protests by both Uralkali and the Russian government, as well as a partial cut in Russia’s oil supply to Belarus, a suspension of Russian imports of Belarus pork products, and the threat of further trade actions. Baumgertner was detained Aug. 26 after being in the country to visit Prime Minister Mikhail Myasnikovich (GM Sept. 2, p. 1). It follows Uralkali’s July 30 announcement that it would exit its export marketing partnership with BPC. Uralkali CFO Viktor Belyakov is acting CEO. In the meantime, the Belarusian government has re-established BPC as a public joint-stock company to coordinate Belarusian potash exports. Belaruskali, the Belarus state-owned potash producer, has said it would take scheduled maintenance turnarounds at some of its operations to help it find its bearings. This would reportedly impact two of four mines. There were also reports that Belarus has cut its potash export duty to zero for the rest of the year from the previous $100-$110/mt, and that Belarus was aggressively marketing its product.
Tel Aviv — Israel Chemicals Ltd. (ICL) has signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with Vietnam’s privately-owned Duc Giang to build and expand a phosphate mine in Vietnam. ICL said the mine would serve Vietnam and the wider Southeast Asian markets. The agreement calls for the project to include a phosphate mine as well as factories to process the material in Bao Thang province in Vietnam. The production facilities would be for a variety of downstream products. The MOU is part of ICL’s strategy to increase and diversify its mining sources outside of Israel and broaden its global presence in the phosphate sector. ICL said that the planned Vietnam operations would not replace its activities in Israel, but rather strengthen its presence in the global phosphate market, especially in Asia. ICL has stepped up its search for phosphate mines outside of Israel due to concern that a planned new mine at Sde Barir may not be approved by the government because of environmental concerns. Israeli industry sources noted that ICL is currently dependent on three phosphate mines in the Negev, which could run out within ten years. They added that if the Sde Barir mine is not approved, then phosphate from Vietnam could be used to supply ICL’s fertilizer plants. Duc Giang is a producer of thermal acid and is in the process of expanding its fertilizer activities and production of phosphoric acid for the fertilizer and food industries. Vietnam’s ambassador to Israel, Ta Duy Chinh, participated at the signing ceremony. Israeli sources said this was significant as the Vietnamese government holds the rights for phosphate mining.
Morocco’s OCP Group, and Bunge Ltd., have announced they have reached an agreement for OCP to acquire Bunge’s 50 percent ownership interest in their Moroccan fertilizer joint venture. The jv, Bunge Maroc Phosphore SA (BMP), was formed in 2008 (GM May 28, 2007, p. 10) to produce fertilizers in Morocco and serve as an additional source of phosphate-based raw materials and intermediate products for Bunge’s fertilizer businesses in South America.
Agrium Inc. reports that it has entered into a Consent Agreement with the Canadian Competition Bureau and thereby cleared the Canadian competition review process in order to proceed with the acquisition of Viterra Inc.’s Canadian retail assets. Agrium will acquire approximately 210 retail stores across Western Canada, in addition to 13 Viterra retail locations in Australia which were acquired in June. For more details, see the Green Markets Web-Edition Friday afternoon Sept. 6.
U.S. Gulf/Tampa: The $15/mt increase to $485/mt CFR at Tampa for September was a long time coming, according to sellers who pointed to eight months of steady decline. It was also an anomaly, as it appeared to be about the only fertilizer price with any legs in the market right now.
Some players are optimistic that the Tampa strength can hold into October. Less product from Trinidad may make that a possibility. PotashCorp is currently taking a turnaround in Trinidad at its number 4 plant (Sept. 2-22). PotashCorp expects second-half October gas curtailments to cut ammonia production by 15 percent. Sources said other producers may see gas curtailments cut as much as 20 percent.
New production in Algeria, however, may easily offset any Trinidad curtailments.
The October NYMEX natural gas close on Sept. 5 was $3.575/mmBtu, versus the Aug. 29 $3.618/mmBtu.
Eastern Cornbelt: The anhydrous ammonia market was unchanged at $530-$540/st FOB regional terminals, with the low in Illinois and the upper end in the Indiana market.
Crop conditions in the Eastern Cornbelt fell slightly from the previous week due to hot, dry weather that blanketed the region in late August.
As of Sept. 1, USDA assigned good or excellent ratings to 72-78 percent of the corn and soybeans in Ohio, 62-66 percent in Indiana, and 52-57 percent in Illinois. Crop development also lagged, with just 3 percent of the Indiana corn crop rated as mature last week.
Western Cornbelt: The anhydrous ammonia market remained at $505-$545/st FOB in the region, with the low reported in Nebraska.
Drought conditions continued to expand in the Western Cornbelt in early September, and crop quality continued to slip. As of Sept. 1, just 1-2 percent of the corn crop in Iowa and Nebraska had reached maturity, compared with 15 percent in Missouri. Corn development in all three states trailed the five-year average.
USDA assigned good or excellent ratings to 39 percent of the corn and soybeans in Iowa and Missouri last week, compared with 64-66 percent in Nebraska.
Fertilizer buying activity was virtually nonexistent in the region. “Calls are few and far between,” said one Missouri contact. “Most are waiting for farmers to finish harvest to see what the follow-up is. With prices being soft, everyone thinks it’ll go lower.”
Low crop prices were also fueling the hesitancy. “That’s slowing folks down,” said one source. “Guys are not wanting to jump out there real hot and heavy, with the markets soft and corn prices going down. That’s going to temper some thinking.”
In some areas of the region where crops look particularly good, however, sources are still banking on a brisk fall application season. “We’re going to have a good corn crop here, so the potential for a good fall is there if the weather holds out,” said one contact.
Southern Plains: Despite beneficial rains in August, the Sept. 3 U.S. Drought Monitor continued to show severe to extreme drought conditions across Colorado, western Kansas, western Oklahoma, and most of Texas and New Mexico. All four states also had patches of exceptional drought last week, which is the worst drought classification.
The August precipitation helped many crops in the Southern Plains, but the persistent drought has taken a toll on crop quality in the region.
The wet August also delayed applications of ammonia on preplant wheat, and sources said growers were opting for other nitrogen sources as a result. The anhydrous ammonia market continued to be quoted at the $485/st FOB level out of regional production points for prompt tons, with the Kansas pipeline terminal market pegged at the $510/st FOB mark, give or take.
U.S. Gulf: Granular prices were reported to have started the week as high as $289-$290/st FOB, but quickly dropped on Monday to $281/st FOB and traded in the low $280s/st FOB for the rest of the week. There were unconfirmed reports that business may have dropped below the $280/st FOB mark.
Prills remained fairly stable, and were called $330-$332/st FOB.
Eastern Cornbelt: The granular urea market had reportedly slipped to $325-$345/st FOB regional terminals in the Eastern Cornbelt, down $10/st from last report. Sources reported no buying activity to test the markets, however.
Western Cornbelt: Granular urea prices slipped $10/st from the prior week, dropping to $325-$345/st FOB in the Western Cornbelt region. The low was reported in southern Missouri, with the upper end quoted as the common dealer price in the Iowa market.
Southern Plains: The granular urea market was quoted at $340-$345/st FOB out of the Tulsa, Okla., market. Although barges were once again moving on the Arkansas River last week, inventories in the Tulsa area were described as snug due to river closures caused by lock maintenance in August.
South Central: Granular urea pricing had reportedly slipped to $325-$340/st FOB terminals in the region, depending on location, which was down some $20-$25/st from last report.
Growers were harvesting corn and rice in the South Central region in early September. Louisiana sources said nearly 90 percent of the corn was already in the bin, while Arkansas growers were just getting started last week.
One Arkansas contact said the corn crop is at least three weeks later than last year, and high moisture is a concern. Corn yields, however, appear to be excellent. As of Sept. 1, 22-27 percent of the corn in Kentucky and Tennessee was mature, with fully 87 percent of the acreage rated as good or excellent. Cotton and soybean crops in the region were also looking good in early September.
Southeast: Although some locations were still posting granular urea at the $400-$405/st FOB level, several sources said the true dealer market for urea was lower at $390/st FOB Wilmington, N.C., Norfolk, Va., and Charleston, S.C. A North Carolina source quoted rail-delivered urea for as low as $380-$390/st from Ohio shipping points.
A period of relatively dry weather in the Southeast helped growers focus on the corn harvest in late August and early September, with good yields reported.
The wet summer has caused problems for the region’s cotton, peanut, and tobacco crops, however. One North Carolina source said tobacco yields in his trade area will be down 25-30 percent from normal.
Middle East: A few traders had to look around for material to cover their Indian contracts. Sources report that some of these traders concluded deals with OMIFCO at $285/mt FOB.
The purchases from the Indian-Omani joint venture company set a new price mark for the Middle East. Confirmation of softer prices coming from the Arab Gulf and Egypt also came from an Egyptian sale at $285/mt FOB.
Sorfert is taking its first steps in exporting granular urea with a selling tender for 20,000 mt. The tender will close Sept. 10. Sources say once the plant is fully operational it will put out 1.1 million mt of urea per year.
The new Fertil plant is also up and running. The 1.1 million mt/y facility is expected to run nonstop through the rest of the year.
All in all, sources say the new production coming online from North Africa through the Arab Gulf will be enough to keep supplies high and prices low.
Black Sea: Sources report that producers are still claiming the price is $310/mt FOB, while buyers are calling the market under $300/mt FOB. No
U.S. Gulf: Players put the latest trades within the $225-$235/st ($7.03-$7.34/unit) FOB range. Sources speculated that recent imports into the U.S. might fall within the $218-$220/st FOB NOLA barge range.
Eastern Cornbelt: Illinois sources pegged the UAN-32 market in the $285-$295/st ($8.91-$9.22/unit) FOB range, while UAN-28 pricing was quoted at $260/st ($9.29/unit) FOB Cincinnati and $265/st ($9.46/unit) FOB in Indiana on a spot basis.
Western Cornbelt: UAN-32 pricing was down in the Western Cornbelt. Sources quoted the regional market in a broad range at $275-$295/st ($8.59-$9.22/unit) FOB, with the low in Missouri and the upper end in Iowa. There was no new business to test the market, however, and several sources said the last sales were done at the $285/st ($8.91/unit) FOB mark.
Southern Plains: The UAN-32 market was pegged at $265-$280/st ($8.28-$8.75/unit) FOB in the Southern Plains, with the low out of Oklahoma production points and the upper end FOB terminals on the coastal bend of Texas. Sources reported no UAN movement in the region.
South Central: The UAN-32 market was reported at $275-$290/st ($8.59-$9.06/unit) FOB in the South Central region, depending on location, although sources reported no movement. One contact pegged the market at $285/st ($8.91/unit) FOB at his location for the last business.
Southeast: UAN pricing out of port terminals in the region was down from last report. Sources quoted the UAN-32 market at $267-$270/st ($8.34-$8.44/unit) FOB Norfolk and Wilmington, with UAN-30 pegged at the $250/st ($8.33/unit) level.
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.
