U.S. Gulf: Granular barges saw a significant rebound last week, with most saying the market climbed as high as $412-$415/st FOB – if not higher – before beginning another retreat. By late Thursday, some said it had fallen back to $405-$410/st.
Some cited the Pakistan decision to push back its buying to late January as one reason for the decline. The hold off on tons to Pakistan took some of the heat off the market.
Sources said the quick run-up in prices suddenly made the U.S. a premium market for world tons.
From a domestic perspective, sources attributed the run-up to both the international market as well as buyers realizing they may have missed the low and coming in to quickly get as good a deal as they could find. Soon the sub-$400/st FOB tons were gone, with the biggest debate being where barge sales actually began last week. While some argued $390-$400/st, others said $375/st FOB or lower.
In the meantime, the last week’s worth of prill sales were called in the $380-$425/st FOB range.
Eastern Cornbelt: Urea pricing covered a broad range in the Eastern Cornbelt, depending on location and time of the week. Sources pegged the low end of the granular urea market at the $430/st level FOB Cincinnati, Ohio, early in the week. Dealer pricing out of terminals in northern Indiana was pegged in the $440-$445/st FOB range at midweek, while Illinois sources said terminal values had firmed to the $450-$460/st FOB range by late in the week. “Everyone is quoting higher on urea,” said one contact.
One Illinois source commented that prompt urea tons were “a little tight” last week, while barges appear to be readily available for spring. “Seems like everyone is pretty confident that spring won’t be much higher than today,” he said.
Western Cornbelt: Granular urea prices out of regional terminals continued to tick upward last week as NOLA barge values did the same. The granular urea market was quoted in the $435-$445/st range FOB regional terminals at midweek, up some $30-$35/st from the previous week’s range. Sources said urea pricing out of the Catoosa/Inola market in Oklahoma had firmed to the $440/st FOB level at midweek.
Several contacts said buyers ultimately came to the table in late 2011, and a fair amount of fertilizer was sold for spring during the final days of the year. The region’s favorable weather also allowed some fieldwork certain locations last week; Missouri contacts reported some dry spreading activity, as well as some movement of corn starters in locations that weren’t able to move as much as they had hoped last fall.
Northern Plains: Sources tagged the granular urea market at $445-$450/st FOB the Twin Cities, with the upper end quoted as a firm dealer price as the week advanced. Prices were also on the upswing in the Dakotas after bottoming in late December. In North Dakota, delivered urea covered a broad range at $465-$490/st, depending on location and time of the week.
Great Lakes: Michigan sources quoted the prompt urea market in the $440-$445/st FOB range last week, which one source said was up some $10-$20/st from the previous week. Spring prepay offers were reportedly available for about $10/st higher. In Wisconsin, spot urea quotes were reported in the $445-$460/st FOB range at midweek, which one source said reflected a solid $25-$30/st jump from the prior week.
Northeast: Sources said urea pricing had ticked up at some regional terminals last week, following a similar rise in NOLA barge values. Out of warehouses in Pennsylvania, granular urea pricing had reportedly firmed to $450-$470/st FOB from the prior week’s low of $420/st FOB. Savannah, Ga., urea pricing was tagged solidly a