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Farmer Fertilizer Focus - Potash

By: Josh Linville, Vice President- Fertilizer

Banner Fertilizer
November '22 POTASH
 
Josh Linville
Vice President - Fertilizer
NOLA potash price graph
Please remember that this is looking at the cost of one short ton of potash sitting in a barge at NOLA (New Orleans, Louisiana).  Your cost is not going to be the same.  This should be looked at more in regards to the price direction rather than the actual pricing.
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What everyone wants to know first, what do we think will happen going forward
If you have been on this newsletter for a while, you have probably noticed a trend:  potash isn't very exciting when compared to phosphate and nitrogen!!!
The potash markets are relatively quiet.  4 countries control approximately 80% of global capacity.  Typical price movement cycles typically take months to over a year to complete.  Not to say that volatility isn't possible, it just isn't common.
That said:
Like last month, the potash negative price trend continues to be our friend (if you are a buyer, that is).
There are some factors that we need to watch that could turn the market around:
  • Added stress on the rail system due to poor barge logistics could cause inland values to push higher.
  • Lot of indications are pointing to solid demand in 2023 (U.S. corn expected in the 92 - 94M range)
  • Continued political tensions with important global exporters such as Russia and Belarus could disrupt trade flows further.

That said, it continues to appear that price remain under pressure.  We are nervous regarding overall demand as farmers may look at the price, determine it to be too high and decide to cut back application rates for the 2nd year in a row.  Fall applicators could make the decision to delay their application until winter/spring in hopes of prices falling further.

Adding to those fears is the continued belief that more supply is coming.  Nutrien and Mosaic have made steps to increase production, new mines in Russia will help global supplies and we continue to believe that Belarus will find its way back to the world.

In the end, there are reasons to watch potash for a trend turnaround but today, a lot more paths appear to push price ideas lower in the short term.

Should you lock in fall '22/spring '23 potash needs today?
If you are planning on applying this fall, I cannot stress this enough:  YES
I know that just above I said that the trend is our friend and prices continue to move lower and all that.
If you are going to apply this fall, ignore the above.
The fertilizer market has serious issues in front of it today.  This mostly revolves around price risk and logistics.
  • Price risk - the price of potash has been steadily falling since late March/early April.  We have talked about it on this newsletter.  You have likely seen it in the markets.  That has caused you to hold off on purchasing for the fall in hopes of lower prices/fears of buying too high priced product.  Guess who else is living that world...your retailer/coop/supplier.  They are buying thousands/tens of thousands of tons and have to deal with the exact same price risk.  Many in the market lived thru the 2008 and 2012 cycles where tremendous amounts of money, jobs and companies were lost.  Your supplier's only hedge in this scenario is to not put product in place until the farmer purchases it.
  • Logistics - the Lower Mississippi River situation is bad.  It's really bad.  Not only does it strain barge shipments, but it also puts added stress on rail as traders/suppliers look to alternative methods of moving product.  Potash is highly dependent on rail so this makes it harder to move from point A to point B.
  • Possible rail strike - this could go along with logistics but figured it was worth giving its own bullet.  There are more and more rumors that a strike is imminent.  I have long believed that a strike will not ultimately happen but the news is starting to worry me.  Imagine a North American world where barge traffic suffers from low water levels and the rail system strikes...

All this to say, if you are going to apply potash this fall, I implore you to have that conversation with your supplier sooner than later.  I like the idea of holding in hopes that prices drop further.  However, I am much more worried about a situation where we hold off a little longer and then find out the product is not available.  For a lot of operations, the price of potash moving $30 - $50 does not equate to a lot of bushels per acre.  The risk is significant. 

Spring applicators are different and can likely continue to hold.  
Spring will be here before we know if but we do have a decent amount of time for markets to change.  With 4 months until March and the trend continuing lower, there isn't much of a reason to get excited today.
That said, if you can lock in your potash, sell your grain and secure a profit you are happy with, do not pass that opportunity.  With the volatility in the markets today, who knows what the next 4 months have in store.  The trend may be lower today, but if the last 2.5 years have taught us anything, markets can change on a dime.
What has happened in the last 30 days?
Lithuania STILL blocking Belarus shipments
Seriously, I do not enjoy leaving entire stories unchanged from month to month but when the story continues to be the same....
For those new to this newsletter, the lack of Belarusian exports has been a major event for global potash markets.  Back in February, the Lithuanian government imposed a blockade of any Belarusian products.  The reason why this was so important and detrimental to Belarus potash is that Belarus is landlocked.  In the past, most of their material either went south (Ukraine) or north (Lithuania) and out to the sea.  
Belarus has helped Russia in its invasion of Ukraine.  That means I have a better chance of calling the markets correctly than Belarus does of Ukraine allowing them to ship product thru their country!!  It also seems there is little chance that Lithuania is going to reverse course and allow shipment in the short term.  Product does not naturally flow east/west.  To the west is Poland which is another country unhappy with Belarus's role in the invasion.  To the east is Russia.  There continue to be reports of infrastructure being developed to increase shipments...but that will take a lot of time.
For now, the potash world continues to lose one of its top 3 exporters.
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Russia exports flowing, but slowed a bit in August/September
The surprise of the 2022 potash market was Russian exports.
Following their invasion of Belarus, many (myself included) thought that exports of all fertilizers would dry up.  I mean, Starbucks and McDonald's pulled out so it was going to be serious!
We quickly found out that exports were slightly lower than the 5-year average, for the most part they were normal.  The addition of these tons back onto S&D's helped price ideas to fall.
However, the last couple months (August and September) for updated trade flow are showing that Russian exports are slowing.  Now, we need to keep in mind that trade data is not always 100% accurate.  Countries like Russia do not report their information so we are forced to back into their flows using destination data.  That can cause discrepancies.  
If we assume the chart below is right, this could be worrisome.  A few hundred thousand tons in the world market does not seem like a big number but sometimes small changes is enough to change the course.  
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Fall '21/spring '22 demand was down.  Will fall '22/spring '23 be down again?
This is my biggest question today:  how much will potash demand be down this growing cycle?
Let's face it, potash is one of the first fertilizer inputs to be cut when costs get high.  While many potash manufacturers tried to downplay the results, potash demand was down big last cycle.  The question now is can that occur for a 2nd year in a row?
Unless grains start to climb substantially, we tend toward yes demand will be lower again.  That said, you will be that final answer and that answer will not come until this winter at the earliest.
New capacity is coming...but when will it hit?
Potash is the one fertilizer that we can point to an improving supply situation moving forward.
Canadian producers Mosaic and Nutrien have both stated that they were ramping up production.  Nutrien in the form of added capacity at existing mines while Mosaic is restarting their mine in Colonsay.
There are a couple projects based in Russia that will add new production to the global S&D.
On top of those, we continue to believe that Belarus will eventually find its way back into the world marketplace.  The popular rumors have continued to be that they will build infrastructure to ship product from their mines toward St. Petersburg where a new deep sea port will be build to load vessels.
While the timing of each of the above is sketchy, we have high hopes that all will happen.  If/when they do, we could finally be looking at a global potash market that has more supply than it has demand...and you know what that means for price ideas! 
Where are current values in relation to the past
NOLA/New Orleans Louisiana 
  • Vs 30 days ago - -5% or approximately $30 lower
  • Vs 90 days ago - -24% or approximately $170 lower
  • Vs 6 months ago - -32% or approximately $250 lower
  • Vs 1 year ago - -22% or approximately $150 lower

 

U.S. Midwest Average (average of several points across the Midwest)

  • Vs 30 days ago - -6% or approximately $54 lower
  • Vs 90 days ago - -15% or approximately $109 lower
  • Vs 6 months ago - -21% or approximately $168 lower
  • Vs 1 year ago - -11% or approximately $82 lower
Bull/Bear Factors
Because no market is ever guaranteed to go higher/lower, we try to consider the factors that can sway values so that we are able to act when they occur rather than react.
Bullish Factors
  • Big demand expected even with lower application rate fears – In the U.S. alone, we are using 92 - 94M acres of corn for 2023.  Application rate cuts will be met with higher overall demand which could turn the market higher.
  • Uncertain Russia/Belarus exports - Russia and Belarus take the 2nd and 3rd place as largest potash exporter in the world.  Belarus is already cut off from the world following Lithuania's move in February to stop shipments.  Russia shows no signs of backing off its invasion of Ukraine and could easily escalate the situation.  There is a path forward where both countries are unable to export.  That would tighten the global S&D.
  • Farmers have too much money – be truthful, raise your hand if you read that heading and thought "listen here you little SOB"!!!  What I mean by this is it is hard to get your hands on new land, equipment, etc.  This has been a good year and we know farmers do not like to pay taxes.  With few options to spend their money before the start of the new year, we could see more farmers forced to buy potash.
Bearish Factors
  • Trend is a buyers friend today – potash prices have been dropping since late March/early April and as you can see from the price chart above, potash price cycles typically take a long time to complete.  Right now, I'm not seeing much of a reason why we would break the current trend.
  • High price (vs historical values) could mean lower application rates – for farmers around the world, potash is an easy cut.  2023 will be one of the highest costing crops to raise.  We could see farmers cut back potash application rates to save money due to not being able to get enough funding or just out of spite.
  • Fall applicators could decide to wait for spring  - values have been and continue to fall.  Lot of questions still as to what to plant next year.  We could see more fall applicators drag their feet and not apply their potash until next spring.  While that would cause a problem for spring logistics, it would weigh pretty heavily on fall price ideas.
Where are the current potash/grain ratio values today?
We believe that only looking at the flat price of either grains or fertilizer can be misleading:
  • Only selling grain can hurt you if fertilizer prices rise substantially
  • Only buying fertilizer can hurt you if grain prices fall
We look at the ratio "value" to get a better indication of where we are or how many bushels of X does it take to pay for 1 ton of fertilizer.
Would you rather:
  • Spend 120 bushels to pay for 1 ton of potash
  • Spend 60 bushels to pay for 1 ton of potash
When we compare the current ratio value against recent years, we start to see if we are high or low.
YOUR VALUES WILL LOOK DIFFERENT
This graph looks at the NOLA potash price vs the flat grain price. There are no logistics on either product. Your location will look different due to fertilizer logistical costs, grain basis, etc.
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Josh Linville’s focal points

I'm changing this going forward simply because I was struggling with what I should put here.  Typically, I fill it with general statements that a lot of times you all do not need.

When I look at markets, I try to find the one/couple points that are most important to me that tell the story.  That is what I will start doing on this section:

  • Lithuania/Belarus - our expectation is that Lithuania will continue to block Belarus shipments for the foreseeable future.  Even if Russia were to pull out from Ukraine, Belarus will still be viewed unfavorably without a regime change.  That means we lose one of the most important exporters.  However, things can change quickly.
  • Overall demand - not only overall demand but when does that demand come.  That will be a big question going forward.  Will overall application rates drop again?  Will they rise if grain prices rally?  Will farmers skip fall applications in lieu of spring in hopes that values continue to deteriorate?  Demand will have the last word.  It always does.

All data was sourced from StoneX unless otherwise noted.

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