Ammonium sulphate: International market trend of ammonium sulphate in the first week of January 2019
Source: Zhongyu Information Date: 2019-1-4 15:31:42
12.20-1.3 International Market Trends (from foreign sources)
North West Europe: As the market recovers from the Christmas and New Year holidays, this week’s new business is seasonally depressed. Suppliers are delivering pre-orders throughout key locations in Asia, including Germany, France, the UK and the Czech Republic. The standard grade price in the European market remained stable at $140/ton fob NW Europe. In contrast, with the end of the procurement season, the standard-level inventory of goods from Brazil was as low as $120/tonne FOB North West Europe, and the market was slightly weak.
Brazil: The sales season of extruded granular grade ammonium sulfate is gradually over, and the price of goods shipped to Brazil is gradually lower. The price purchased from China this week is 185-195 US dollars/ton. The specific price is determined by quality. Due to the short transit time, European producers have sold the last batch of goods in January at a price of $205/ton cfr, but prices have fallen. Lanxess will ship 25,000 tons of standard granular ammonium sulphate to Brazil in the next two weeks. It has shipped 10,000 tons before Christmas. China’s standard grade granular ammonium sulfate is about US$145/ton, and Europe is US$148-150/ton. As of January 22, there will be 11 vessels in Brazil that will carry 299,000 tons of ammonium sulfate into the Brazilian port. This is a reduction of 125,000 tons from the end of December last year. Except for the two shipments in the United States, all ammonium sulfate is from China.
China: Standard grade ammonium sulphate sellers offer $116-118/tfob, while buyers/traders offer $115/tfob. Domestic demand will peak in February/March, but Brazil’s demand is weak. Whether domestic producers can hold the price remains to be seen. The extruded granular grade ammonium sulphate will be reloaded into Brazil in March/April. The operating rate of domestic caprolactam plant has been increased from 60% to 80%, and the shutdown and maintenance has been basically completed. The ex-factory price of coking grade ammonium sulfate is 565 yuan / ton (82 US dollars / ton), according to reports, due to environmental reasons, the supply is low. The price of MMA grade ammonium sulfate is unchanged at $105/ton fob long mouth, and the price of granular ammonium sulfate is stable at 150-153 dollars/ton fob.
Philippines: La Filippina won the bid on January 3, supplying 6,000 tons of bulk internal ammonium sulfate in February. According to the GTT data, imports in the first 10 months of 2018 have been stable at 420,830 tons, which is equivalent to the 423,544 tons imported in the same period in 2017. However, China remains the main supplier to the Philippines with a production of 272,371 tons.
Indonesia: Inquiries for 11.2 million bulk cargoes of caprolactam-grade bulk cargo shipped to Dumai before the end of January.
Southeast Asia: Southeast Asia’s sales this week are still relatively low, and many people are still on vacation. 50 kg of bagged internal ammonium sulfate is still shipped to Malaysia and other markets at a price of US$125/ton FOB China.
Turkey: Turkey has not yet seen new buying interest. Buyers are expected to return to Hong Kong in January next year to purchase more goods to meet spring demand. According to GTT data, from January to November 2018, Turkey’s imports of ammonium sulfate fell by more than 6% year-on-year. Throughout 2018, the Turkish market has been facing a difficult political and financial situation, which has affected its ability to import fertilizer. Turkey is the world’s third largest buyer of ammonium sulphate and an important market for ammonium sulphate. According to GTT data, the total import volume was 835,396 tons, down from 893,679 tons in the same period last year. From 377,550 tons in January-November 2017 to 446,060 tons in the first 11 months of 2018.
Ukraine: GTT data show that from January to October 2018, Ukraine imported 263,258 tons of ammonium sulphate, 10% lower than the 291,314 tons in the first 10 months of 2017. Both Belarus and Poland have increased their supply to Ukraine, while Russia has reduced its imports to Ukraine due to the escalation of political tensions between the two countries. About two-thirds of Ukraine’s imports come from Belarus, with 154,601 tons, compared with 86,229 tons in the previous year; Poland’s imports increased from 5,843 tons to 47,245 tons. Russian imports fell from 199147 tons to 48,902 tons, a drop of 75%.
