India announces back-to-back tenders as urea tightness continues to be felt globally

India has this week announced two new purchasing inquiries, within days of the conclusion of the latest producer-only tender that resulted in only 465,000t of urea being secured by the country. With the world’s largest urea importer desperately behind on purchases for this season, it has had no choice but to pay high prices for…

Urea values continue rapid ascent as supplies remain limited, no signs of slow-down in sight

Global urea values have continued to race ahead and are yet to show signs of letting up. As the below table demonstrates, urea have significantly advanced since late August. With fundamentals in the nitrogen markets remaining strong, it appears there is no end to the increases for now. In the urea market, following its latest…

Profercy’s Nitrogen Index makes largest weekly increase and hits 2012 high as nitrogen shortage bites

With the surge in global urea values showing no sign of letting up, the Profercy World Nitrogen Index has made its biggest weekly increase on record, climbing by 23.39 points and hitting a new high of 253.04, levels that were last seen in May 2012. After remaining relatively stable during the past couple of weeks,…

Urea values surge in the west, supply tightens further as producers shutter and cutback output

With urea values already firm in the west, the situation has escalated further this week owing to the rapid ascent in spot gas prices in Europe. Ukrainian producers are now being forced to consider cutting back, or shut down operations altogether. Nitrogen production in other European locations is also considered under threat. CF Industries in…

Urea market rallies in the west, while east continues to await Indian announcement

The widespread anticipation of an Indian urea purchasing tender announcement and a series of related and unrelated events has led to a sharp about turn in urea values. This week, the Profercy World Nitrogen Index reversed around half of the decline of the previous six weeks. The first sign of bullishness came in the paper…

Optimism returns to the urea market as paper market surges pre-Indian tender; physical markets slow to react

The derivatives market based on the Profercy/ICIS fertilizer index is now at a notable premium to the physical with Arab Gulf, Nola and Egypt contract values rallying late yesterday. The past 1-2 days of trading of fertilizer futures through the CME Group futures exchange has seen optimism return to the urea market. September Arab Gulf…