A trading firm sold 25,000t of Russian MAP and 15,000t of DAP for shipment to Latin America, excluding Brazil, while a fresh Moroccan MAP sale to Brazil has also emerged.
The Russian MAP sold at $700/t fob Baltics and the DAP at $690/t fob, both for shipment in March. The cargoes are sold on a fob basis for a long position and are not sold on a cfr basis to importers. The exact destination of products is not known but Argentina is a likely destination. The prices would net forward to around $750/t cfr and to around $740/t cfr Argentina for the MAP and DAP, respectively.
DAP/MAP offers to Argentina have firmed to $750-765/t cfr.
The Moroccan MAP sold to Brazil at $720/t cfr and will load in February-March. The total quantity is unknown.
Suppliers also remain bullish on TSP and SSP. TSP offers to Brazil have increased to $575-600/t cfr, with Moroccan at the high end, while SSP suppliers are targeting higher sales.
Phosphate prices in the Americas have firmed earlier than normal because of expectations of reduced Chinese phosphate exports this half of the year, while raw material costs continue to rise. These factors have pushed importers in the US, Brazil and Argentina back into the market at the same time, exacerbating the firmer trend and lifting DAP/MAP prices since the start of the year.
But distributors in the domestic markets still point to poor farmer affordability as crop prices remain low.
