U.S. Gulf: Most players last week were calling the prompt market in the $680-$700/st FOB range, with a few saying trades were still done over the $700/st FOB range at the very beginning of the week. One said another wave of demand is in sight, and with supplies under pressure, prices may stop their erosion and rebound.
Another pointed to problems on the Arkansas River, where barge tows are temporarily halted by one barge line due to water levels. As a result, they said the Catoosa/Inola area, which is out of urea, will see a five-day delay before seeing any more barges. Another added that due to water levels on the Mississippi, barges on that river are going slowly, and are about two-three days behind normal.
Eastern Cornbelt: Tight supplies and brisk demand continued to drain nitrogen inventories at many regional terminals last week. Sources at midweek reported that Cincinnati, Ohio, was out of urea and would probably remain that way for up to ten days. Illinois sources quoted the granular urea market at $730-$740/st FOB if you could find tons, with the upper end of the regional market pegged at the $775/st mark FOB E. Liverpool, Ohio.
Western Cornbelt: Most locations were “in and out of urea” last week, as one source described it. Some would-be buyers were reportedly sourcing tons from up to 350 miles away.
Where available, the granular urea market in the Western Cornbelt was quoted at $730-$750/st FOB regional terminals. One source pegged the St. Louis, Mo., market at the $740/st FOB level at midweek, with “very short” inventories.
Northern Plains: Nitrogen inventories were very tight in the region last week. One source said urea was unavailable out of the Twin Cities market at midweek. Others quoted allocated tons out of Pine Bend, Minn., firmly at the $730/st FOB level. In North Dakota, sources pegged the urea market at $765/st FOB for “very limited tons,” with delivered urea pegged as high as $800/st or more in the state.
Northeast: Granular urea pricing covered a broad range in the Northeast, but availability was the bigger issue. Several sources said the last prices they had picked up out of the Philadelphia market were at the $700/st FOB mark or slightly higher, but there were no confirmed reports of spot tons available at that level last week. Urea was not available out of Savannah, Ga., but pricing in that market had reportedly been at the $730/st FOB mark the previous week for any available tons. Out of E. Liverpool, Ohio, urea suppliers were referencing as high as $775-$790/st FOB last week.
Eastern Canada: Granular urea pricing covered a broad range in Eastern Canada – if you could find tons. Where there were still older inventories to tap, sources reported dealer pricing at the $780/mt FOB level, which was up some $150/mt from last report. In areas where new tons were coming in and pricing had been adjusted to reflect new replacement costs, sources quoted the granular urea market as high as $850/mt FOB out of terminals to the dealer.
Pakistan: After much deliberation, the Economic Coordination Committee (ECC) shifted from calling on TCP to import 600,000 to importing only 300,000 mt.
At first it appeared as if TCP was going to wait to see if the market price shifted down in the second half of April. Instead, it called for a tender to close May 21.
Documents were sent to potential suppliers and trading houses the middle of last week. By week’s end, however, the TCP planners seemed to want to change the closing date.
May 21 is right in the middle of the annual IFA conference. Sources say the last thing TCP needed was to close a tender when the entire fertilizer industry is meeting in Doha. Further indication of