U.S. Gulf: While NOLA imports were generally reported as plentiful, sources said last week that a few vessel delays caused the market to pop.
As a result, prompt barges spanned a broad range as the week progressed. Players called the market as low as $260/st FOB as the week begin, before moving to $297/st FOB for a loaded barge at the end of the week.
Loaded, upriver barges were receiving a considerable premium, and were quoted as high as $285-$325/st FOB on a NOLA basis, depending on location. Sources said the industry was starting to see actual movement, which perked up price ideas for near-term product that was immediately available.
Just a few weeks out into May and June, however, price ideas fell off quite a bit. May was called in the $250s/st FOB.
Prill prices were lower at $260-$280/st FOB.
February urea imports were up 42 percent, to 868,377 st from the year-ago 611,160 st. July-February imports were up 30 percent, or about 1.3 million st, to 5.51 million from the year-ago 4.25 million st.
Eastern Cornbelt: The granular urea market was steady at $325-$345/st FOB in the Eastern Cornbelt, with the low reported in Cincinnati, Ohio, and the upper end out of inland terminals in the region.
Western Cornbelt: The granular urea market was steady at $325-$335/st FOB regional terminals in the Western Cornbelt, with the upper end reported in Iowa and the low quoted out of river locations in southern Missouri.
Sources reported a slightly firming urea market at Inola, Okla., with prices reportedly moving at midweek to $325-$330/st FOB, up from roughly $320/st FOB at last report.
California: Sources pegged the granular urea market at $395-$400/st FOB import terminals in California, down $5/st from last report, but there was still minimal new business.
Pacific Northwest: Sources reported a softer urea market in the Pacific Northwest last week. Granular urea was quoted at $375-$385/st FOB port terminals in the region, down $5-$10/st from last report. Rail-delivered urea was pegged in the $410-$420/st range in the region from Canada or Midwest shipping points, reflecting a roughly $15-$20/st drop.
Western Canada: Granular urea was reported at $645-$670/mt DEL in Western Canada, with the low in Manitoba and Saskatchewan and the upper end in Alberta and British Columbia.
India: The STC tender received offers of nearly 2 million mt, but sources report that only 360,000 mt have been booked so far. Industry watchers note that this may be all that gets booked.
Major trading houses were blocked from participating in the tender because they were disqualified in the technical round. Sources say the companies were bounced from the tender because they did not agree to the payment methods laid out in the tender documents.
The documents included wording that said payment would only occur after STC got the money from the Indian government, instead of the standard practice of issuing a letter of credit. The wrinkle angered a number of the major trading houses. In the end, Amber, Aries, Ameropa, Dreymoor, Fertisul, Keytrade, Mekatrade, Quantum, and Sinochem were disqualified because they did not agree to the new payment routine.
The remaining 13 companies offered product in the upper $260s/mt CFR for an effective netback to China of the low-$250s/mt FOB and a couple of bucks more to Iran.
The tally of offers follows:
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