International urea market continues to be weak

The turnover of the international urea market was very small last week. Traders sold short-term sources in their hands. Since the price is going down the path, buyers’ purchases are not to be denied. They are actively bidding at very low prices. Easter holidays have caused many Latin American buyers to stop buying. At present, the offshore urea FOB price in Yuzhki Port is reduced to 380 US dollars (t price, the same below), and the latest price comes from NF. The price of urea sold in the Baltic Sea is $10 less than during the day, but shipping costs are still confusing due to shipping obstacles caused by freezing. There are no favourable factors in the market to support prices. It seems that the urea price will continue to weaken in April.

Egyptian producer Mopco recently tried to sell 25,000 tons of large-grain urea, but did not receive acceptable bid prices, and no one is willing to purchase these sources. If the price is higher than $400, traders will only purchase a small portion of it and pay a price of $20 less than the price of urea shipped in March. Two other Egyptian producers will sell their April production in recent days. It is estimated that the FOB price is likely to be less than US$400.

The price of large granular urea in the Middle East has also declined, and the FOB price in Southeast Asia has fallen below US$400. Procurement activities in the United States are inhibited by inclement weather. The United States Department of Agriculture revised the maize acreage forecast on March 28 and stated that the area this year was 97.3 million acres, in line with market expectations. However, persistent cold and wet weather may cause farmers to abandon corn planting and change soybeans, then the demand for nitrogen fertilizer will decrease. On Thursday, after the US Department of Agriculture announced that the latest inventory increased by 6% to 7%, corn prices began to fall.

The purchase of Latin American buyers this week may give some support to the price of small granular urea, but the Asian market is running slowly and it is expected that the price of large granular urea will further weaken.