U.S. Gulf: Granular urea appeared to be edging downward last week. While many called the prompt NOLA market in the high $320s/st to low $330s/st FOB, others said trades were slipping into the low $320s/st FOB by late in the week. Upriver trades were called $330-$337/st FOB.
Prills continued to be called $335-$345/st FOB, but sources said they are now hard to find, with the last done business at the top end of the range.
Eastern Cornbelt: The granular urea market in the Eastern Cornbelt was pegged at $380-$385/st FOB spot river terminals on the low end, with the upper end of the range quoted at $400-$420/st FOB inland warehouses in Ohio. Sources pegged the Maumee, Ohio, urea market last week at $400/st FOB.
Western Cornbelt: Granular urea continued to be quoted in the $380-$400/st FOB range in the Western Cornbelt. An Iowa contact pegged the common dealer market at the $390/st FOB level last week.
Urea pricing out of the Tulsa, Okla., market continued to slip. Sources quoted the dealer market there at $355-$365/st FOB, down $5-$10/st from the previous week.
Northern Plains: Granular urea pricing continued to cover a wide range in the Northern Plains region.
The Twin Cities market was quoted at $360-$370/st FOB on the low end, while Dakota sources reported spot pricing ranging from $420/st to nearly $500/st FOB or DEL, depending on “who you are asking.”
Great Lakes: Urea pricing in the Great Lakes region was also down considerably from last report, and demand was virtually over.
Michigan sources quoted the dealer market in the $400-$420/st FOB range last week, depending on location, while Wisconsin contacts reported spot pricing at $390/st FOB mark, give or take. Those numbers were down $50-$60/st from April pricing levels.
Northeast: May went out like a lion for parts of New England and northern New York, with snowfall and cold temperatures reported over the Memorial Day weekend. Weather conditions had fortunately improved by early June, however, allowing regional growers to make strides on spring planting.
Granular urea pricing was quoted at $420-$430/st FOB in the Northeast region, down $15-$20/st from last report. Urea pricing out of port terminals in the Southeast had reportedly fallen to $410/st FOB.
India: The MMTC award team settled on awarding 1.07 million mt from its June 3 tender.
The winning price was $331.50/mt CFR, set by Swiss Singapore. Unlike previous tenders, there is no price differential for different ports.
Sources say the low prices offered in the June 3 tender were surprising.
Leading into the tender, many in the industry were predicting prices in the low-$340s/mt CFR or upper-$330s/mt CFR at best. The approximate 500,000 mt offered for less than $333/mt CFR surprised many.
Sources say the amount of urea offered told the whole story about the state of the current market. All told, about 3.5 million mt was presented in firm offers. Another 2.1 million mt were put forward in optional offers.
| MMTC Urea Tender June 3, 2013 | ||||||
| Offering Company | Source | Quantity (‘000mt) | US$/mt | Discharge Port | ||
| Firm | Optional | FOB | CFR | |||
| Fertil | Abu Dhabi | 50 | 33 | |||