Tag: Prices

Market Insight courtesy of Argus Media

Ammonia prices have now dropped by about 50% from their highs a year ago. Gas prices have fallen, particularly in Europe, and peak fertilizer application season is over in Europe and North America, leading to slackening demand., leading to slackening demand.

Prior to the covid pandemic, sub-Saharan Africa had been the fastest growing market for new fertilizer demand. However, the combination of pandemic related disruption, followed by the dislocations caused by the war in Ukraine, have pushed up prices and led to falling demand across the continent.

New supply is weighing on the market. In addition to increased exports in the second half of the year from upgrades and new refining projects from the Middle East, crushed lump sulphur is also again entering the market in higher quantities from both the FSU and the Middle East, and displacing granular product in some markets, notably Morocco and China.

Maria Mosquera, Editor of the Argus Sulphur Report and Liliana Minton, Editor of the Argus Sulphuric Acid Report at Argus Media assess price trends and the market outlook for sulphur and sulphuric acid.

All is not well with the Chinese economy. Growth has slowed to a fraction of what it was, only 0.8% in 2Q 2023, and has not bounced back as expected as covid lockdowns were eased. Exports and imports are both falling, debt has reached 300% of GDP, youth unemployment is running at 20%, and the property market is collapsing, with huge property developers like Evergrande and Country Garden only avoiding bankruptcy via government arranged loan restructurings. Consumer prices have fallen year on year, raising the spectre of deflation, and productivity growth has fallen from 4.5% year on year in 2006-7 to around 0.8% today. The yuan is trading at a 16-year low against the dollar.

Ballestra, Nitricity, Solex Thermal Science and Stamicarbon showcase their state-ofthe-art equipment and technologies.

Market Insight courtesy of Argus Media. Urea: While prices mostly fell in mid-August, the main development was the massive purchase of Chinese urea by Indian Potash Limited. IPL confirmed that, out of a total tender settlement of 1.759 million tonnes, one million tonnes will be met by Chinese exporters. This far exceeded expectations and added to the already bearish sentiment of most market players.

The International Methanol Technology Operators Forum (IMTOF) met at the Leonardo Royal St Paul’s hotel in London from June 11th-14th.

Although the nitric acid industry has an extensive history dating back centuries, nitric acid production continues to be a dynamic process with bespoke system solutions necessary per plant rather than a one size fits all. Kate Cardonne of Johnson Matthey discusses strategies to balance the cost and performance in nitric acid production.