Urea

U.S. Gulf: Prompt granular barges worked their way up last week. While some called them $290-$295/st FOB early in the week, others said they were $300-$305/st FOB by week’s end, as buyers were trying to fit in those last barges to beat the river’s close. Generally, late October to November barges were called $285-$290/st FOB.

The last done prills continued to be called $310-$313/st FOB.

Eastern Cornbelt: Granular urea pricing remained at $325-$345/st FOB regional terminals in the Eastern Cornbelt, with the low out of spot river locations and the upper end out of inland warehouses in the Ohio market.

Western Cornbelt: Granular urea pricing in the Western Cornbelt was slipping slightly, with sources quoting the dealer market at $320-$335/st FOB in the region, down $5-$10/st from last report. The low end of the range was reported in southern Missouri, with the upper end in the Iowa market.

Southern Plains: Granular urea was moving briskly out of the Tulsa, Okla., market. Urea was reported at $330-$335/st FOB Tulsa, with the Houston price quoted at the $355/st FOB mark.

South Central: The granular urea market remained at $325-$340/st FOB regional terminals, with the low FOB Memphis, Tenn., and the upper end out of the Little Rock, Ark., market.

Southeast: With no new business to test the market, granular urea pricing continued to be reported at the $390/st FOB reference price out of port terminals in the Southeast. There were reports at mid-month that some locations that have been out of product will be restocked in the near term.

Harvest delays were reported in southern Georgia, northern Alabama, and parts of central and southern Florida last week due to wet weather. Mid-month rainfall totals included 6.9 inches in Sarasota, Fla., and 4.79 inches in the Tampa area.

Just 1 percent of the Georgia cotton crop was in the bin by Sept. 22, but North Carolina growers had 74 percent of the corn crop harvested by last week.

Regional growers had just 4-5 percent or the peanuts harvested in Alabama, Georgia, and North Carolina by Sept. 22, compared with 13 percent in South Carolina and 26 percent in Florida.

India: The long-awaited MMTC tender closed Sept. 26. Earlier in the week, sources were speculated that some offers might dip below $300/mt CFR but that the bulk of the offers would not. They were wrong.

Of the 4.3 million mt offered, only 1 million mt were at $300/mt CFR or more.

The lowest offer came in at $294.99/mt CFR from Bary Chemicals. Other low offers came from Aries, Swiss Singapore, and Dreymoor. Combined, the four companies put forth about 900,000 mt.

Seven companies were separated by only 50 cents as their offers neared the $300/mt CFR level. Fertisul offered 120,000 mt at $299.45/mt CFR and Emmsons offered 220,000 mt at $299.95/mt CFR.

The complete tally follows: