China's MOP imports fell by 27pc on the year in the first quarter. But annual MOP contracts should settle in the coming weeks, boosting imports in the months ahead.
January-February data were aggregated, with imports at nearly 696,000 t/month, while March imports totalled 775,000t. This took first-quarter receipts to 2.2mn t, down from 3mn t in the same period last year and 2.8mn t in January-March 2018.
Canada supplied nearly 1mn t in the first quarter, and Russia 690,000t, down by 11pc and 8pc, respectively.
Imports from Belarus fell by 42pc to 290,000t, receipts from Jordan were down by 49pc, at 110,000t, while Israeli supplies fell by 84pc to 51,000t.
Imports by rail from Russia totalled 636,000t in January-March, with Eurochem sending 86,000t and Uralkali sending 550,000t.
China imported 9.1mn t of MOP last year, up by 22pc.
China's previous headline contract price of $290/t cfr for standard MOP was settled in September 2018, and expired in June 2019, although shipments continued afterwards. Southeast Asian standard MOP prices have fallen by over $50/t since September 2018, and with China usually setting the price floor for the global standard MOP market, expectations are for contracts to be concluded at under $240/t cfr.
