U.S. Gulf: Potash barges continued to weaken last week, with sources now calling the market $505-$510/st FOB.
Eastern Cornbelt: Potash out of Eastern Cornbelt warehouses was quoted at $545-$560/st FOB to the dealer, depending on grade and location. One source quoted brokered tons at the $560/st DEL level as well.
Western Cornbelt: Potash remained at $545-$557/st FOB regional warehouses, with the upper end quoted for white granular tons on a spot basis. The red granular potash market in Iowa was commonly quoted at the $550/st FOB level last week.
Northern Plains: Minnesota sources quoted the potash market at $535-$545/st FOB warehouses, while prompt delivered potash was reported at the $562/st level in North Dakota. Potash pricing FOB Saskatchewan mines for U.S. customers was tagged at $530-$540/st FOB, depending on grade and supplier.
Northeast: Potash was quoted at $560-$580/st FOB and $570-$590/st rail-DEL in the Northeast, depending on grade and location.
Eastern Canada: Potash pricing out of Ontario warehouses was unchanged at $640-$650/mt FOB, with the low for red and the upper end for white granular tons.
Sulfate of potash (SOP) was steady at $830/mt FOB in Ontario.
The K-Mag market in Eastern Canada was quoted at $460-$485/mt FOB regional warehouses, depending on location and supplier.
Russia: Uralkali, like PotashCorp, is prepared to cut potash production in order to prevent further price erosion, according to an interview given to Bloomberg news by Uralkali CFO Victor Belyakov. Uralkali has cut its 2012 production target by about 8 percent, to between 10.5 -10.8 million mt.
In other news, Uralkali reported that a Jan. 23 fire at its Brezeniki number 4 plant was quickly extinguished. It said the fire started at around 11:00 a.m. Moscow time at the 6th crystallizer in the vacuum crystallization unit of the hallurgic ore-treatment plant. At the time, Uralenergostroi, a contractor of Uralkali, was performing welding and grinding work at the crystallizer.
Uralkali said there was no danger to the employees of the plant, and no one was injured. The incident happened at the production line that is under reconstruction, and will not impact the company’s annual output.
Brazil: BPC has raised its postings for second quarter business to Brazil to $580/mt CFR, up some $20-$30/mt from its previous prices.