AGRO PERSPECTIVE «Fertilizers » January 14 – 21, 2010
Prilled urea prices are still stable. Granular urea has been sold by manufacturers only. Price trend of granular urea is more predictable. Ukrainian urea manufacturers try to utilize capacities maximally. However, average capacity utilization of all nitrogenous fertilizers is up to 85% because of frost.
In Black Sea, urea is offered at $275–278/t, in Baltic — at $260–270/t FOB, in Middle East — at $290–305/t FOB.
Turkey is still the main buyer of Ukrainian nitrogenous fertilizers as well Latin America and Southern Europe. Fertilizers show attractive dynamic all over the Europe. In this connection, Cherkassy ammonium nitrate stands all chances to find buyer in European countries because its price formation depends on price formulas in UK and France.
Now, ammonium nitrate is as popular in Black Sea as in Russia and Ukraine. There are no offers at prices lower than $245/t FOB. At the same time, traders don’t hurry to sign contract at $247–250/t FOB (which manufacturers announce). The main hitch is that Turkish buyers can count nitrogen cost in different fertilizers; urea is more attractive for them. Manufacturers will have to look for distant ammonium nitrate markets.
Prices of phosphorous fertilizers and NPK continue to surge. In Black Sea, Russian NPK 16:16:16 is sold at $420–440/t FOB in bulk. Ammophos could be bought at $420–430/t FOB in bulk. Ammophos price increase is appropriate to this fertilizer’s popularity growth in Asia and Brazil. Consignment of 30,000 t of Ukrainian ammophos was sold at $400–405/t FOB.
Generally, for this period world fertilizers market shows indistinctive price increase of phosphorous fertilizers along with inadequately high prices of ammonium nitrate. Ammonia price growth to $285–295/t FOB is partly due to increased ammonia popularity among manufacturers of phosphorous and nitrogenous fertilizers in middle latitudes.
