Urea

U.S. Gulf: Loaded granular barges that were ready to go continued to garner a large premium last week, and were reported to have traded as high as $349-$360/st FOB.

On the other hand, barges to be loaded just two weeks out were on the low end of a very broad range. While several put them in the $300-$310/st FOB range, others said barges being sold off of import vessels due next week were going for as low as $290-$295/st FOB.

Sources continued to report that prills were not available on a prompt basis. Second-half July, however, was being bandied about within the $310-$315/st FOB range.

Eastern Cornbelt: With sidedress demand mostly finished in the Eastern Cornbelt, sources reported no supply chain problems other than tight urea inventories at some locations.

Granular urea was quoted at $380-$400/st FOB in the Eastern Cornbelt, with the low end reported at Cincinnati, Ohio.

Western Cornbelt: Sources continued to report firm prices and very tight inventories for urea in the Western Cornbelt.

The granular urea market was quoted in a broad range at $390-$415/st FOB out of regional terminals for very limited tons, with several contacts reporting sold-out inventories last week. In addition to rice demand, sources said corn growers were applying urea in aerial applications because of missed UAN sidedress applications due to wet fields and tall corn plants.

Northern Plains: Granular urea pricing had reportedly firmed to $390/st FOB in the Twin Cities market for limited prompt tons. There were reports of summer fill tons being offered at the $350/st FOB level in the Twin Cities, but that program was not confirmed.

No spot tons were available out of North Dakota urea terminals last week, and sources reported very little demand or activity to test the FOB or delivered markets in the Dakotas.

Northeast: Granular urea pricing had reportedly firmed to $375-$385/st FOB in the Northeast, up $10/st from last report, although inventories were low and several locations were out of product by late June. The upper end of the range was reported out of the East Liverpool, Ohio, market last week.

Eastern Canada: Ontario sources quoted the granular urea market at $499-$520/mt FOB, with limited availability on the spot market.

India: The STC tender closed with 1.6 million mt in firm offers and another 300,000 mt in optional offers. The tender showed a clear uptick in pricing, with the average of all the offers at $322.53/mt CFR. This compares to the average price of $303.13/mt CFR in the May IPL tender.

Sources were expecting higher prices because of the efforts of Chinese producers to push the prilled price to $315-$320/mt FOB. What those producers did not consider, however, was that as they pushed their prices up, they made it possible for Black Sea tons to be offered for the first time in a long while.

In the end, the Chinese producers had to settle for netbacks under $310/mt FOB.

The tally of the tender follows: