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Farmer Fertilizer Focus - Urea

By: Josh Linville, Vice President- Fertilizer

UREA
 
Josh Linville
Vice President - Fertilizer
major global urea export location price graphs
The intention of the below graphs are not to use to say "my price should be X based on this graph".  These prices are indicated from an FOB price point average.  The intent is to show major global price movement trends.  I have opted to include US Gulf/NOLA in these graphs due sometimes on/sometimes off again export capability.  Also to show N.A. values in relation to the rest of the world.
The first graph shows these prices reflected in metric ton.  The second graph in short ton.  Both are listed using USD as the currency.
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What everyone wants to know first, what do we think will happen going forward
Losing an entire region (Europe) worth of production along with an upcoming India tender should mean higher prices ahead.  

The Black Swan event of the 2023 fertilizer year is likely going to be the loss of almost all production in Europe due to high cost natural gas.  While many, ourselves included, had discussed the possibility of losing more European production, I would be lying if I said I expected almost every plant to go down.  I would have been laughed out of most rooms had I made that claim.

Unfortunately, that is where we are today.  There are signs of natural gas values backing up which if continued could mean production coming online (major bearish event).  But again, this is not something we are currently counting on.

Couple this loss of production with the current India purchase tender (looking to secure 1M tons) and that results in a market with more upside. 

Should you buy your spring '23 urea needs today
Layer to your happy place
The outlook today remains bullish.  There is still a tremendous amount of demand to step forward in the coming fertilizer year.  While we can remain hopeful the tide turns in Europe, we cannot expect it.  Grain prices remain high meaning that farmers are going to continue to farm.  All of that adds up to a market that looks bullish.
But there are paths forward to lower values.  Namely, Europe.  Some nations are making statements that they will take steps to offset the high price of natural gas.  Knowing that they need to feed their people, they are likely to make nitrogen production a top of the line important industrial demand.  We are also seeing natural gas prices falling.  They had reached as high as $100+ but as of this morning had fallen back to lower $70's/upper $60's.  If production turns back on, long positions are likely to try and sell off with buyers running for the hills.
What has happened in the last 30 days?
Europe has been lost
If this is the first product you are reading, get ready to hear A LOT about Europe.  
While European nitrogen production had been suffering, we had not heard any additional plant outages and operating rates had remained in the 60 - 65% range.  While the market watched nervously at every natural gas price jump, no additional announcements were made...until natural gas spiked over $70.
It started with several plants in Poland announcing short term closures.  My hope at that point is that it would remain within Polish borders.  That would not be the case.  By the following morning, the Dutch TTF had jumped over $80 and the rest of Europe started to fall.  By the end, almost all production was announced down and natural gas values spiked to over $100.
That's the bad news (and prices jumped huge as a result).  The good news is that all is not lost.  These plants were taken down for a short term outage.  That means that they do not go thru all the steps of mothballing, doing steps for long term outages, etc.  They are also likely make repairs so that when they fire up again, they do not have to go down for maintenance.  If we start to see natural gas values fall (thinking $50's), it is summertime (warm temps) so turning them back "on" should not be as difficult as if we were in the middle of winter.
A lot of this fertilizer year is going to focus on Europe.  When nat gas spikes, their production goes down and demand goes up.  That is a double edged bull factor.  Same on the way down.
Stay tuned...
India is back
Given what has happened to global prices since their last tender, I'm guessing there are some that wish they had been more bold in their last purchase.
That aside, India is back to test the meddle of the world urea marketplace.  Offers are to be valid thru September 9th.  The shipment period is thru October 21.  They announced that they are looking to secure approximately 1M tons in this tender.
That means any changes in Europe is going to have a big effect on the offer price on this tender.  It sounds as though global traders/suppliers are long physical product.  If Europe remains offline and prices look to hold/push higher, expect to see offers high priced.  However, if signs start to show that Europe is turning back on, India could be a way to offload a lot of tons in a short amount of time.  Given how much prices have rallied, there is a lot of profit that can be given up to ensure they get to sell.
The last tender shocked the world with how low the lowest offers were.  We will need to see if a similar story plays out this round.
North America needs to be worried about exports/supplies
OK, maybe that is more of a gotcha headline but I think it holds true.
Back in July, NOLA urea was very cheap vs the rest of the world and given the poor spring demand, that made sense.  N.A. was too long inventory wise and needed to find balance.  Europe struggling and willing to pay a big premium meant a lot of product headed that way and to other homes around the world.  
Now, the Europe situation is worse than it was.  Not only that, but Europe accounts for 20% of global UAN production capacity.  If I am a producer, I am going to lean more into UAN production than urea.  That means N.A. should be losing even more urea than it originally expected.
All this means that N.A. imports will need to be bigger going forward.  the market can hope that these tons just naturally flow here like they did last year.  However, with Europe soaking up what they can and Brazil needing tonnage, N.A. has competition.  Do not expect any worry to really jump until almost Christmas.  If we get to that point and imports are still not coming, NOLA will need to call on tons in the form of premium prices vs the world.
Something new from China
While news from China is always hard to find, one story did emerge in the last month.
Parts of the country were dealing with excessive drought and high temperatures.  With less water to produce hydro electricity, supplies were lower.  That was coupled with an increase in demand as residents cranked up the A/C.
The result was several nitrogen plants going down short term in order to preserve electricity for people.  This was relatively short lived (few weeks at worst) but the story is there.
It continues to point to the narrative that China is continuing to have an energy situation.  If that is true as it seems, it means the government is going to continue to restrict the export of fertilizer for the time being. 
Long story short, those hoping to see China return to former export glory took another hit...
Where are current values in relation to the past
NOLA/New Orleans, Louisiana 
  • Vs 30 days ago - +15% or approximately $90 higher 
  • Vs 90 days ago - +19% or approximately $110 lower
  • Vs 6 months ago - -14% or approximately $108 lower
  • Vs 1 year ago - +37% or approximately $185 higher

Middle East

  • Vs 30 days ago - +8% or approximately $50 higher
  • Vs 90 days ago - +2% or approximately $16 higher
  • Vs 6 months ago - -3% or approximately $20 lower
  • Vs 1 year ago - +47% or approximately $220 higher

Egypt

  • Vs 30 days ago - +2 or approximately $13 higher
  • Vs 90 days ago - +8% or approximately $58 higher
  • Vs 6 months ago - +6% or approximately $55 lower
  • Vs 1 year ago - +73% or approximately $328 higher

Black Sea

  • Vs 30 days ago - +3% or approximately $18 higher
  • Vs 90 days ago - +10% or approximately $53 higher
  • Vs 6 months ago - -7.5% or approximately $47 lower
  • Vs 1 year ago - +39% or approximately $164 higher

China

  • Vs 30 days ago - +12% or approximately $57 higher
  • Vs 90 days ago - -20% or approximately $130 lower
  • Vs 6 months ago - -9% or approximately $53 lower
  • Vs 1 year ago - +27% or approximately $115 higher
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
  • Europe remains offline long term – the worst case scenario has played out.  Now the question is how long.  The longer this occurs, the worse the global S&D gets.  
  • Chinese export remain banned – unfortunately, this bull factor also looks like it will remain in place for a while.  After the heat wave/drought situation shut off production short term, it doesn't fill us with confidence that they will return to the mighty urea exporter they once were.
  • N.A. may have exported too much - the opportunity was there to export urea (and other N sources) to the rest of the world and if I know anything about the fertilizer market, it is that it always overdoes everything.  If the export opportunity was there, it was probably bigger than expected.  That means we will need to call those tons home at some point.  If that doesn't happen in the next few months, it means we will need to be a premium to the rest of the world to get them...and producers will know that.
Bearish Factors
  • European natural gas values could tank – this is the same number 1 bear factor as August, but in a different light.  Now, we are looking at gas values in the upper $60's/lower $70's.  If we see those values continue to trend down to the point that production turns back on, global N values will be under pressure quickly.
  • European governments could step in - rather than sit back and allow the market to work itself out, we could see government intervention.  All know the importance of food security.  Most are waking up to the importance of fertilizer in food security.  If enough countries decide that they need their production online, natural gas prices be damned.  Rising production = more supply = lower pricing.
  • Farmers have time on their side - I say this from a N.A. point of view.  Much of our nitrogen demand will not step forward to apply until next April.  That is 8 months.  There is a substantial amount of demand that can easily drag its feet if it feels current prices are too high.  If this demand does delay, it pushes supply risk back to the supplier/producer.  Enough of that happens and you end up with sellers who REALLY want to sell.
Where are the current urea/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 135 bushels to pay for 1 ton of urea
  • Spend 55 bushels to pay for 1 ton of urea
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 urea 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 Thoughts
  • Hedge, hedge, hedge - the worst case scenario is not buying today's urea values and then watching the price of urea fall thru the floor.  The worst case scenario is buying today's urea value and then watching grain values fall thru the floor.  I know that forward selling grain comes with challenges.  I am not trying to gloss over that and everyone needs to do what they are comfortable with.  However, I am deathly afraid of doing one side and not the other.  There is a lot of risk involved with that.  Consider your whole operation.  Inputs and outputs.
  • World events matter, no matter where you are - you might be farming in Canada and wondering why Europe matters to you.  You might be a farmer in Australia and wonder why you should care about China.  Everyone, we are part of a world market whether we like it or not.  We need to keep the world in mind when we make decisions.
  • Keep your head on a swivel - volatility does not look like it is going anywhere anytime soon.  Trust me, I want time off as much as the next guy but I also know that if I allow myself to stop watching, I can miss it.  Keep your eyes open.
 
 
 
  • Fertilizers

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