International ammonium sulfate market

Black Sea, Baltic Sea

Russia's supply of ammonium sulphate is still tight, and producers are working hard to push up the price of small goods for export. Gubyshev nitrogen has 3,000 tons of Cprolactam grade ammonium sulphate for shipment at the end of July, with a target of $130/tonne FOB Novorossiysk. Ultramar will load 30-33 thousand tons of extruded pellets in Usteruga at the end of August to the United States. Extrusion granules are in short supply in the Russian market, and Schekinoazot extruded granules are scheduled for mid-August and are not currently available.

Kubyshev ammonium nitrite delayed until October

The annual production of Kubyshev nitrogen is expected to be 385,000 tons. In October this year, the company is expected to start production of ammonium sulphate in the existing production base in the Samara, Russia. The device has been postponed since July. Ammonium nitrate will use ammonium sulphate as a raw material, and there will be fewer caprolactam grades available for sale. Once ammonium nitrate is put into operation, the availability of ammonium sulphate standard products is expected to shrink to 40,000 to 50,000 tons per year, which is likely to supply Russian industrial demand rather than for export.

In 2018, KuAz produced 530,300 tons of ammonium sulphate, of which extruded granules accounted for 200,000 to 240,000 tons. However, in the fourth quarter phosagaro's Cherepovets plant launched a 300,000 tonne/year synthetic ammonium sulphate facility, which would make up for the tighter availability for KuAz. Phosagro may consume large amounts of ammonium sulphate from its new facilities for compound fertilizer production and currently relies on shipments from Russian suppliers.

The goal of Kubyshev nitrogen is to sell about 50% of ammonium sulphate in the country, and the remaining tons are used for export.

Schekinoazot increases production

After the start of the new 200,000 tonne/year ammonium sulphate plant in the fourth quarter, the line was put into operation from March to April. In May, Schekinoazot's 17,000 ton/year synthetic ammonium sulphate production line reached stable production. In recent years, producers have produced 150,000-155,000 tons of ammonium sulphate per year. Currently, about 7,500 tons/month of ammonium sulphate is made into extruded granules. The ratio of standard and extruded granules is unlikely to change this year.

Belarus

In June of this year, Grodno Azot produced 27,000 tons of ammonium sulphate, compared with 31,000 tons in the same period last year. In the first half of the year, the total output was 178,000 tons. And the output from January to June 2018 was 181,000 tons. There was almost no change. However, due to the weak market for caprolactam and low operating rates, production in July is expected to fall to 22,000 tons from last year's 29,000 tons. There is no export report this year because the producers supply most of its production to a local extrusion pellet plant, Belagrofert. The Belagrofert manufacturer has already started a second 120,000 ton/year squeezing granule plant, which now requires about 20,000 tons/month of raw materials, and local farmers continue to purchase ammonium sulphate directly from July to August.

Northwestern Europe

There is no new spot sales report for the North West European standard ammonium sulfate, and the manufacturer mainly executes the pre-contract orders. Domo announced on May 23 that in addition to phenol and acetone, nylon 6, caprolactam and cumene were also affected by force majeure. On July 8, Leuna plant supplied phenol and acetone to recover.

OCI has been sold out in July. In August, 2mm ammonium sulphate will be supplied at a CIF price of €4181-185/ton, and 3mm is € 205-210/ton CIF.

Romania

On July 11, Ameroba is shipping 7,000 tons of Spanish ammonium sulphate to Constanta to work with M/V Lyuboveta. The product is priced at €205 / ton FCA Constanza. Indagro will ship 6,000 tons of ammonium sulphate from Spain to the Danube region in July and may also ship to Constanta. The price in Egypt is €230/ton FCA.

Russia's extruded granular ammonium sulfate is priced at €230/tonne FCA in Eastern Romania and can be shipped on rail. Schekinoazot sold 2000-3000 tons of extruded granular ammonium sulphate to Romania and Moldova in early June and will ship it in early August at a price of about $170/ton.

Turkey

Toros has already bought two batches : 15,000 tons of steel grade for Samsun; 20,000 tons of steel grade for Ceyhan port and 5,000 tons for Izmir.

Recently, China's standard grade ammonium sulfate is $147-179/ ton CFR without tariff.

China

With the continuous recovery of on-site devices, China's caprolactam production is gradually increasing, so the production of by-produced ammonium sulfate is also increasing. At present, the average operating rate of domestic devices is around 70%. Because the internal level of the company's inventory is low, the current sales are pressure-free, the standard price of the new quotation is $117-119/ ton FOB, but currently, there is no turnover of more than $117 / ton FOB.

Korea

Capro Corp's ammonium sulphate supply in July is reported to have been sold out and is currently available for August export. There is a 25,000-ton inquiry on the market, which is required to be shipped in Ulsan from August 1st to 15th, with the destination on the west coast of India. It is understood that this shipment was for the tender by STL on June 4.

Southeast Asia

Golden Barley sold 12,000 tons of standard grade ammonium sulphate and shipped it to Davao and Subic at the end of July at a price of $142/tonne CFR and a freight $25-26/ton from China. There are unconfirmed reports that the price of 6,000 tons of goods in Indonesia is about 141-143 US dollars / ton CFR Dumai. A Vietnamese buyer will complete a bid to export 6,000 tons of ammonium sulphate to Ho Chi Minh City next week.

From July 1st to 10th, a cargo survey of 30,000 tons of fertilizer from the Yangtze River to Port Klang or Lahad Datu is underway. This may be a combination of MMA grade ammonium sulfate and ammonium chloride. The price of MMA grade ammonium sulfate outside China is between US$124-126/tonne CFR, while the buyer's price is below US$120/tonne CFR.

Brazil

Insufficient current demand is still difficult to support price increases. For the July shipments, the offer for ammonium sulphate was mainly at $172-175/tonne CFR. Last week, it was reported that a ship that was about to arrive was priced at US$169/tonne CFR. The price of ammonium sulphate in Europe is around US$195/tonne CFR. The sales of Wuzhoufeng products are also reported at US$185 per ton CFR this week. Shipments in July and shipments in August and September are expected to be at the same level.

There is no new standard sales this week. The European supplier's target is still USD 150/ton CFR in August, but it has not yet been sold. The price of China's ammonium sulfate is US$145/ton CFR. A freight inquiry for the shipment of 4.7 tons of ammonium sulphate for Paranagua and Alatu in Tianjin from July 15 to 20 is ongoing. Indagro will ship 60,000 tons of ammonium sulphate to Paranagua from Qinhuangdao and Yantai from July 20th to 25th.

In the first half of this year, Brazilian imports increased by 17% to 1.173 million tons, compared with 1 million tons in the same period last year. However, imports in the second quarter were lower than last year. Imports in April-June were only 282,000 tons, down 54% year-on-year. However, due to strong imports in the first quarter, this difference was offset. In the first half of 2019, the number of imports from China increased by 30% to 791,000 tons, accounting for 67% of total imports, up from 61% in the same period last year. Belgium remains the second largest importer with a volume of 219,000 tons, an increase of 187%. Imports from the United States increased by 72% to 78,000 tons, while imports from the Netherlands fell by 50% to 34,000 tons. Poland is 30,000 tons, an increase of 7% year-on-year.

There were no goods imported from Lithuania this year, and in the same period last year, about 25,000 tons of goods were shipped to Brazil. This reflects the lower net profit of ammonium sulphate sales in the Brazilian market compared to goods shipped to markets such as Ukraine, as well as increasing competition from Chinese goods.

Russian suppliers are also shifting their focus to other markets, exporting only 1,000 tons to Brazil in January-June, down from 33,000 tons last year. Ammonium sulfate from Russia has been exported to the United States this year because of the increase in net profit.

Colombia

Monomeros held a tender on July 11 to purchase 6,000 tons of standard grade ammonium sulfate and delivered it to Barranquilla in August. In addition, the company also requested 11,000 tons of standard ammonium sulfate to be supplied to Barranquilla and Buenaventura before July 16, and will be delivered in September.

United States

Ultramar will load 30-33 thousand tons of extruded ammonium sulfate in the Baltic Sea and ship it to the United States at the end of August. The goods have been sold to several buyers. The ammonium sulfate granules shipped to the United States from late August to September, the European supplier's target price is about $224-226 / ton CFR.

The United States considers tariffs on EU fertilizers

The United States is considering adding nitrogen fertilizer to its list of products to increase tariffs in disputes with the European Union (EU) on subsidies for large civilian aircraft. The US trade representative will hold a hearing in August to consider including these goods in the revised list. In 2018, EU producers exported 205,000 tons of ammonium sulphate to the United States.