São Paulo – Increased demand from India has tightened the gap between supply and demand for urea, causing the fertilizer prices to rise significantly in the global market in recent days. An analysis by financial services company StoneX indicates that the weekly price variation of the product at Brazilian ports reached up to USD 30 per tonne, an increase of over 5% compared to the previous week. Among Brazil’s suppliers are Arab countries such as Algeria, Qatar, Oman, Saudi Arabia, and Egypt.
“The fact that triggered this price increase movement for urea in Brazil was the announcement of new information about an ongoing procurement tender in India,” said StoneX Market Intelligence Analyst Tomás Pernías in material released by the company. According to the analyst, an Indian importer is seeking urea shipments on the international market, and this is happening at a time when China, a major urea exporter, is limiting its exports of the product.
According to StoneX, the market is still recovering from the impacts of the production shutdowns in Iran and Egypt that occurred during the days of the conflict between Israel and Iran. According to Pernías, Brazilian importers and farmers usually increase their purchases of urea throughout the second half of the year, and especially for those who still need to acquire nitrogen fertilizers for the next corn crop, this situation could worsen trade terms at a strategic moment for the domestic market.
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Fertilizer consumption increases in Brazil
Translated by Guilherme Miranda
