U.S. Gulf: Prompt NOLA granular barges continued to soften last week, with new trades called $320-$330/st FOB. Chinese were about $10-$15/st less.
Prills were also weaker at $330-$335/st FOB.
Eastern Cornbelt: Granular urea was steady at $385-$410/st FOB in the Eastern Cornbelt, with the Cincinnati, Ohio, market pegged at the $395/st FOB mark.
Western Cornbelt: Granular urea had reportedly slipped to $385-$400/st FOB in the Western Cornbelt, with the low reported in southern Missouri and the upper end in Iowa.
There were reports that urea pricing out of the Twin Cities market in Minnesota had dropped to as low as $365/st FOB, though new sales at that level were not confirmed.
Southern Plains: The granular urea market had reportedly slipped to $380-$390/st FOB the Tulsa, Okla., market, with no tons available in Houston.
South Central: Granular urea pricing had reportedly fallen to $390-$400/st FOB terminals in the South Central region, down $20/st from last report. Sources described sales as “insignificant” while growers focus on harvest.
Southeast: Sources pegged the granular urea market in the Southeast region at $420/st FOB port terminals for limited tons, down $5-$10/st from last report, with some locations out of product last week.
India: When the counterbids in the MMTC tender were released, sources said the low prices might make securing more than 1 million mt difficult.
Those ideas proved wrong. As Green Markets was going to press, MMTC had secured more than 1.7 million mt. Industry watchers say more tonnage might still be added to the order books before the validity end date of Sept. 26.
Sources said traders were at first hesitant to accept the bids. The trading houses wanted to make sure they had enough material from a producer at an agreed-to price before stepping in. Once it seemed clear that the Chinese producers were not going to repeat their performance following the IPL tender awards and raise prices, the bids were accepted.
Just one or two trading houses moved on the bids at first, but once those first steps were taken, the rest of the offering companies quickly stepped in to secure a deal.
The Indian buyer set a range of prices depending on the discharge port. The lowest price was based on the Berrychem offer of $302.77/mt CFR to the east coast port of Krishnapatnam. The price range for other east coast ports was $303.77-$305.77/mt CFR. The west coast price range was $306.77-$309.77/mt CFR.
In the end, the west coast ports will be getting the bulk of the business, with approximately 1.2 million mt going to Mundra, Kandla, Pipavav, and Mangalore. The east coast ports of Kakinada, Krishnapatnam, and Karaikal will receive 550,000 mt, with Kakinada getting almost half of the tonnage.
A tally of awards as Green Markets went to press follows.
| Supplier | Quantity (mt) | US$/mt CFR | Discharge Port |
| Berrychem | 68,000 | 302.77 | Krishnapatnam |
| 60,000 | 307.77 | Kandla | |
| Transglobe | 120,000 | 308.77 | Pipavav |
| 60,000 | 307.77 | Kan |