U.S. Gulf: Prompt granular urea prices dropped last week to as low as $246/st FOB. Sources said it was now too late to get barges very far north before river close, and price ideas were lower as a result. Another contact suggested an unexpected and unconfirmed import from Venezuela.
Regardless, new trades were reported as high as $254-$256/st FOB by the end of the week. Still higher prices were also heard, but these were for moving barges that were already upriver.
Prills were reported weaker at $250-$260/st FOB.
Eastern Cornbelt: Urea pricing continued to be quoted in a broad range at $290-$310/st FOB in the Eastern Cornbelt, with the low end reported at Cincinnati, Ohio, and the upper end out of spot Illinois River locations.
Western Cornbelt: The regional urea market remained at $300-$315/st FOB in the Western Cornbelt for prompt tons, with spot pricing at the $300/st FOB level or lower for first-quarter tons.
Southern Plains: Urea prices continued to fall in the Southern Plains. Although there were some reports of prompt and first-quarter urea tons being offered for as low as $285/st FOB Catoosa, Okla., most pegged the urea market in the $290-$295/st FOB range at the port last week “with nothing going on.”
South Central: Granular urea pricing had slipped to $295-$310/st FOB terminals in the South Central region, with the low reported FOB Convent, La. The Memphis urea price was pegged at $310/st FOB, down $15/st from mid-September pricing levels.
Southeast: The granular urea market had reportedly slipped to $320-$325/st FOB most port terminals in the Southeast, down some $10/st from last report, although postings remained as high as $335/st FOB at some locations in the region.
India: By the time the MMTC tender closed Oct. 9, the industry was already back in a gloomy mood.
The announcement of the tender came in September as the TFI World Conference in Boston closed. Most in the business said the tender would not stem the downward slide in prices, but it might slow the decline. Sources said at a minimum it would absorb some excess tonnage produced in China, and allow prices to fall at a more structured rate instead of a freefall.
The lowest offers were in the $257-$258/mt CFR range, and surprised many. Just days before the tender closed, sources said they expected the price to drop at least $20/mt from the Sept. 9 IPL $274/mt CFR level.
In the end, about 3 million mt were offered in the tender. Of that amount, 1.4 million mt were offered below $261/mt CFR. The market price had indeed fallen, but not as much as many had predicted.
Results of the tender follow:
|
Offering Company |
Quantity (MT) |
US$/mt CFR |
Discharge Po | |