Phosphates shipments to France were primarily skewed towards DAP at the expense of TSP at the start of this year, as the comparatively lower nutrient cost of DAP encouraged buying.
French DAP imports were strong at 109,000t in January-February, up by half from the same period a year earlier, with Morocco's OCP driving shipments, the latest trade data show. This marks the highest DAP volumes received by France in January-February since 2017.
Deliveries of DAP to France were strong in February, with 66,000t received during the month. OCP shipped 41,000t of DAP in February, up from deliveries of 24,000t in January. Russia's Eurochem, which operates its Lifosa DAP facility in Lithuania, accounted for 25,000t of France's DAP receipts in the first two months of this year, down by just over a quarter from a year earlier. Tunisian producer GCT shipped 12,000t of DAP and Russian product, largely from supplier Phosagro, totalled 3,000t in January-February.
The Argus DAP index — a weighted basket of fob prices from the five largest origin markets — slipped to 82.3 points at the start of January, marking its lowest since it was launched in June 2017, highlighting the relative cheapness of DAP at the start of this year. Suppliers are likely to have increased DAP shipments to their supply chains in France in January-February owing to the growing need to allocate volumes in the face of these lower international phosphates prices.
TSP imports plunge
French imports of TSP were just 12,000t in January-February, one of the lowest levels on record, according to trade data.
TSP from the Netherlands, likely to have been from Israeli supplier ICL, accounted for 5,000t while OCP provided 4,000t.
TSP imports were less attractive, as the DAP price, which hit recent lows in January, drew demand for phosphate purchases.
French TSP imports typically lag towards the end of the year and in the first quarter, before ramping up for the peak season of June-July. But French TSP receipts in January-February, averaged just 10pc of total DAP and TSP deliveries, marking the lowest proportion of TSP delivered to France since the end of 2017.
Stronger DAP shipments have been fuelled partly by the relative affordability of the product in P2O5 nutrient terms compared with TSP. DAP has the same P2O5 content as TSP, but also includes 18 parts nitrogen, as a result of the ammonia added in its production.
OCP is the largest supplier of imported phosphates to France, and the differential between DAP and TSP fob Morocco was markedly low at the end of 2019 and the start of this year, further supporting French demand for DAP.
The DAP-TSP differential, which can hover around $100/t under typical market conditions, averaged just $25/t in December, firming to $37.50/t in January. These low values highlight the comparative cheapness of DAP, in light of lower global phosphates prices. The differential has since widened as DAP prices have firmed, averaging above $60/t in April. This has seen TSP deliveries to France rebound in recent months, with Moroccan, Israeli and Egyptian TSP now on offer in Rouen.
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