A series of spot deals were concluded in a hectic week for the merchant ammonia market, a positive trend underlining the far healthier global supply situation, despite production headaches in Algeria persisting and feedstock price volatility in Europe triggering some uncertainty. Towards the end of a year scarred by lengthy periods of capacity curtailments in…
A pair of premium-priced fob spot sales to Trammo by leading producers in North Africa and the Middle East were the main events in an otherwise relatively quiet week for the merchant ammonia industry. Against the backdrop of major capacity curtailments in Saudi Arabia and limited loadings in the US Gulf this month, the trader…
While summer holidays kept many ammonia market players away from their desks, prices, sentiment and the global supply/demand balance remain clearly disjointed between East and West as thoughts turn to September shipments. This trend was illustrated by fresh fob spot business for North African material taking place at a premium to cfr deliveries into the…
In a busy week in which news of the sale of 100,000t of spot material emerged and supply constraints finally started to ease in Trinidad but persisted in North Africa, the settlement of the Tampa contract for August at a $60pt premium to July was the main talking point. The significant hike in the US…
Yara has signed a Heads of Terms for offtake from Atome’s proposed 264,000t per year renewable calcium ammonium nitrate (CAN) project in Villeta. Yara would market and sell the green CAN as part of the YaraBela product line, with the 145MW project scheduled to produce and export fertilizers derived from baseload renewable power from 2027.…
Yara swung to a net income of $3 million in the second quarter of this year from a net loss of $298 million in April-June 2023, with the Scandinavian group unveiling plans for a cost and capex reduction program worth $300 million to strengthen financial performance. Over the next 18 months, Yara will aim to…
The international ammonia market remains bearish in the West and relatively bullish in the East in a week in which the headline news was the slide in the Tampa contract to $400pt cfr for June loadings. The $50pt drop in the settlement took some players by surprise as the imminent natgas cuts and subsequent plant…
Dutch fertilizer major OCI Global has confirmed the first low-carbon material from its showcase Texas Blue Clean Ammonia project will emerge in early 2025 and that the facility it well-positioned for the arrival of Europe’s Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM). Due onstream in the first six months of next year, the Beaumont-based facility is at…
Confusion over the pricing situation East of Suez has been the overwhelming topic of conversation in the merchant ammonia market over the past week, with a series of high-priced sales into China and Taiwan taking many by surprise, as did a discounted deal into India. The three sales by traders into Taiwan and China at…
The global merchant ammonia market is longer than it has been for many months and while this week’s sharp fall in the Tampa contract was widely expected, the size of the discount slightly underwhelmed some leading players. Many had expected a three-digit drop from January’s $525pt cfr rather than the $80pt slide to $445pt cfr…