Profercy’s Nitrogen Index dropped for the fourth consecutive week on the back of price falls for both grades of urea. Of particular note, the low end of Profercy’s price range for US Gulf fob prices fell by $35ps ton this week. The changing fortunes for Gulf barge prices mean that Middle East producers will see…
Global urea markets have cooled in recent weeks, with the US proving to be the only bullish market. As anticipated in our last Forecast, published at the end of January, import purchases in most major markets proved to be limited through February. Buyers have been keen to avoid being left with surplus product in advance…
As the urea market heads towards Q2, the week saw little major buying activity. Prilled urea continues to bear the brunt of buyer nervousness. Since 23 January, the high end of Profercy’s price quote for Yuzhnyy prilled urea (fob basis) has fallen by $45pt. In the East, those holding Chinese prilled product are hoping for…
It has been a challenging week for many urea markets despite the continuation of healthy granular prices in the USA. The bottom end of Profercy Nitrogen’s price quote for Yuzhnyy prilled urea fell by a further $10pt, with the low end of the quoted range for Egyptian granular falling by a greater amount. However, other…
The latest figures from the UK confirm that 2013 was a record year for UK urea imports. The figure for the year was 8.9% up on 2012 and stood at just less than 770,000t. The previous record of just over 750,000t was achieved in 2009. Indeed, lower average global urea prices will have encouraged the…
It has been a mixed week for global urea markets with the gulf between FSU prills and North African granular urea reaching $100pt. For the sake of comparison, the price difference between the average of Profercy’s Baltic prilled range and Egyptian granular range in the first week of this year was a much lower $55pt. This…
Nitrogen markets remain stable to firm with Profercy’s Nitrogen Price Index recovering the modest drop last week. As anticipated, the fall last week was widely viewed as a market correction. While the high end of Profercy’s price ranges for both prilled and granular urea have fallen back, the low ends for Yuzhnyy prills, as well…
As we noted earlier in the week, urea markets have been firm since December, with prices in the US Gulf having jumped nearly 21% since the beginning of the year. This week saw the market cool. While demand is evident, buyers paused and were not prepared to meet earlier price increases. The slight change in…
Iran is set to benefit from a relaxation in sanctions that have restricted oil and urea exports. The temporary removal of certain sanctions was first announced by the P5+1 countries at the end of November, with the intention restated ahead of the World Economic Forum meeting in Davos last week. The latest interim accord will…
“The general level of urea prices is increasing and this trend is expected to continue into Q1 2014….demand in the West, North America and Europe, has been deferred with the recent price recovery having caught many markets off guard. Given that the preferred grade for Europe and North America is granular, this product has the…