Indonesian Pupuk subsidiary Kaltim closed a sales tender today, with the highest bid emerging so far in the low $410s/t fob Bontang for granular urea loading next month.
Higher bids are yet to emerge and Kaltim may decide not to progress with the tender, with the supplier understood to be targeting around $430/t fob. Other bids were around the low-$400s/t fob, with the bulk of bids in the $390s/t fob and below. There was no comment from the parties involved.
Latest fob business in the region took place in the low $430s/t fob Brunei for smaller lots in mid-February.
The tender requested bids for 45,000t of granular urea loading from Bontang in the second week of March. Participants had anticipated that Kaltim had 2-3 cargoes available for loading next month.
A delayed tender issuance from India, the potential restart of Iranian urea production in the coming weeks and a drop in US barge prices at Nola last week have combined to cool market sentiments following a continued rise in prices since early December.
