Contract settlement for July cargoes of ammonia bound for Tampa falls again

Richard Ewing

22-Jun-2020

LONDON (ICIS)–Fertilizer giants Yara and Mosaic on Monday agreed a price of $205/tonne CFR (cost and freight) Tampa for July loadings of ammonia for the phosphates major’s operations in Florida.

The figure represents a $13/tonne fall from the June settlement of $218/tonne CFR and comes amid bearish sentiment west of Suez due to overcapacity and weak demand.

The soft conditions have already prompted Canadian giant Nutrien to shut down one of its four 600,000 tonne/year plants in Trinidad for at least 12 weeks, while a second unit forced offline recently due to mechanical issues may not now restart.

Last week, Nutrien revealed a decision on whether to resume operation of the latter would be determined by “market conditions”, but the latest fall in the benchmark index will be a negative for the producer.

Conversely, ammonia prices east of Suez have stabilised in recent weeks after months of falls triggered by weak industrial demand amid the coronavirus pandemic.

In addition, a lengthy plant turnaround at a major Indonesian producer has reduced export availability from southeast Asia until H2 August, leading to bullish sentiment for Q3 business.

Separately on Monday, Yara sold a 25,000 tonne spot cargo of ammonia to Turkey’s Gemlik at a confidential CFR price for early July discharge.

The Trinidad material loaded on the LPG tanker Yara Aesa over the weekend for 8 July discharge in Europe, with the buyer understood to have secured a second spot cargo from another supplier for late July/early August arrival.

No details about the other sale have been heard, although Gemlik has previously agreed spot CFR deals with international trader Trammo, and Russian production titan Togliattiazot.

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