Urea markets benefit from Indian demand; ammonia prices remain low
Profercy’s World Nitrogen Index currently stands at 94.90pts and has tracked sideways through September. However, with modest gains for urea and ammonium nitrate prices evident in the past two weeks, the Index could soon move over the 95 point mark for the first time since June. Urea: Indian demand supports producers in the East Global…
Urea: August defined by price stability and supply outages
Mid-July saw Profercy’s Nitrogen Index at its lowest level since the 2009 start date. However, international urea prices gained towards the end of the month and the market was stable to firm throughout August. Black Sea prilled urea prices are currently $15-20pt above the low levels seen in July, while Egyptian granular urea has gained…
US Gulf urea prices up $20-30ps ton – a seasonal run-up in a bear market?
After a difficult January for nitrogen producers, global urea markets are currently on a firmer footing. Significantly, urea values in the US Gulf ran-up quickly in the last 10 days, moving up $20-30ps ton to over $245ps ton for March barges. A number of factors have supported the run-up, including the fact that the US…
Urea prices down $20pt on mid-December 2015 levels
Negative start to 2016; nitrogen prices under pressure Plentiful global supply and low energy environment undermines potential for a sustained run-up in prices It has been clear for some time that 2016 would be a difficult year for urea markets. Q1 has traditionally provided the best opportunities for producers to manage a run-up in global prices. However,…
2015: Average urea prices down by up to 19%
2015 has played out as expected for urea prices. The market has been characterised by over-supply and depressed demand. Of the major urea markets, only India and Mexico have seen a sizeable increase in volumes of imported urea (basis latest data). Imports have lagged 2014 volumes in other major markets, and in the case of…
An uninspiring end to 2015 for the urea industry
The below entry draws heavily on Profercy’s latest Nitrogen Market Forecast. To obtain a copy, you can register for a free trial of Profercy’s Nitrogen Service here. It has been another challenging year for urea. As evidenced by the graph below, average nitrogen values prices have fallen for three years. Indeed, the Nitrogen Index, heavily…
Global urea prices track sideways despite global commodity downtrend
In recent weeks, global nitrogen values have broadly trended sideways and urea markets in particular have lacked clear direction. This trend followed a tough July in which global urea values dipped sharply – prilled urea hit a low of $263pt fob Yuzhnyy, before staging a modest recovery. Indeed, Yuzhnyy prills are currently valued some $15pt…