U.S. Gulf: Fresh trades of prompt granular urea were put at $279-$285/st FOB last week. While some prices were put as low as $270-$274/st FOB, those were generally reported as lower-quality Chinese product.
Prills continued to be called $300-$310/st FOB. The U.S. quota of Libyan prills appears to be making it to the country despite utility outages in Libya, which have impacted production. Yara estimates that the Lifeco plant had an operation rate of 50 percent during the third quarter, and this may continue for the short term as utility interruptions continue.
Eastern Cornbelt: Granular urea was steady at $320-$345/st FOB in the region, with the low FOB Cincinnati, Ohio, and the upper end out of inland warehouses in the Ohio market.
Western Cornbelt: Most sources quoted the granular urea market at $325-$335/st FOB in the Western Cornbelt last week, while the low end of the range remained at $320/st FOB in the St. Louis market. The Tulsa, Okla., urea market remained in tight supply at $330/st FOB.
California: Granular urea pricing remained flat at $390-$400/st FOB in California.
Pacific Northwest: The granular urea market continued to be quoted at $400-$405/st rail-DEL in the Pacific Northwest.
Some sources reported higher numbers for truck-delivered tons due to tight supplies and outages at the Rivergate terminal, but others downplayed those reports, noting that a new vessel was expected to replenish Rivergate inventories on Oct. 25. “The price hasn’t moved up by any means,” said one contact.
Western Canada: Although dealer postings remained in the $505-$530/mt DEL range in Western Canada, sources quoted the urea market as low as $450/mt rail-DEL last week in some locations, with the upper end of the range pegged at the $480/mt DEL level in the region.
India: The State Trading Corporation of India (STC) has reportedly sent out letters of intent to the three companies with the lowest offers in its recent tender. Actual awards are not expected to be issued until Oct. 25.
The lowest offered price of $309.90/mt CFR marked an increase in the price India has to pay for its urea. Sources say the upward move of about $15/mt came about because of a confluence of multiple buyers in the market at one time, and also the upcoming closing of the Chinese export window.
Sources said buyers had moved on Chinese material leading up to the tender, leaving some Chinese warehouses with fewer tons than expected. At the same time, Pakistan announced it would need 500,000 mt by the end of the year, and Bangladesh also stepped in with a series of tenders.
The price of $309.90/mt CFR is expected for East Coast ports, while $312/mt CFR is being pegged as a West Coast price.
STC has yet to move to confirm this two-pricing decision. Sources say, however, that if STC wants to get more than 500,000 mt, it may have to accept material in the $312/mt CFR range.
Three companies – Dragon Fertilizers, Dreymoor, and FertTrade – were disqualified from the tender. The combined offers from the three companies totaled 220,000 mt, but STC did not reveal the offering prices. Sources say the disqualification came as a result of disputes between the trading houses and STC over validity and shipping dates. Trammo, meanwhile, sent its regrets.
Results are as follows.
| October 18 STC Urea Tender Results | ||||||
| Bidder | ||||||