Urea prices continue to rise

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Urea prices continue to rise April 17, 2012, 06:36 China Securities Journal (Gu Xin) Data from Business Society (100ppi.com) shows that domestic urea prices continued to increase slightly last week; the average ex-plant price was 2,240 yuan per ton at the beginning of the week, rising to 2,270 yuan per ton by the end of the week, an increase of 1.34%. Since the beginning of the year, urea prices have risen by about 10%. 　　Zhang Ming, an urea analyst at the Chemicals Division of Business Society, said that currently, the vast majority of domestic manufacturers have no inventory. Some distributors report that orders for which payments were made earlier cannot be fulfilled as planned. Meanwhile, demand from agriculture in the Northeast and from border trade exports in the Southwest remains strong. Coupled with the continuous rise in prices in the U.S. market, there is an increasing tendency among domestic manufacturers and distributors to drive up prices. It is expected that the domestic urea market will remain in a state of strong volatility in the short term. 　　At present, the ex-factory prices of urea produced by companies in Shandong, Hebei, and Henan provinces range from 2,250 to 2,290 yuan per ton, with actual transaction prices mostly around 2,260 yuan per ton ； The ex-factory prices of urea manufacturers in Jiangsu region range from 2,280 to 2,300 yuan per ton ； The strong demand for fertilizers in the northeast region during spring has significantly driven up prices in the local market, with prices reaching as high as 2,450 yuan per ton. In terms of industrial demand, the operating rate of domestic compound fertilizer manufacturers has declined slightly, resulting in limited driving effect.