Fertilizers, Chemicals
May 13, 2025
Platts proposes to launch daily urea assessments in the Baltic, Black Sea and Middle East regions; refine methodology for existing weekly urea assessments June 27
Platts, part of S&P Global Commodity Insights, proposes to launch six daily granular and prilled urea FOB assessments for the Baltic Sea, Black Sea (both Russian and non-Russian), and the Middle East, effective June 27, 2025.
These daily assessments, which would be published Monday-Friday in $/mt and time stamped to 16:30 London time in the Platts Fertecon Daily publication along with Platts Connect and Platts pricing database, would better capture price developments within the fertilizer market throughout the week.
The proposed specifications for these six daily assessments are as follows:
| Assessment name | Quantity | Basis and location | Timing |
FOB Baltic Sea Granular Urea | 25,000-35,000 mt | Spot. Ust-Luga | Loading one to six weeks forward |
FOB Baltic Sea Prilled Urea | 25,000-35,000 mt | Spot. Ust-Luga | Loading one to six weeks forward |
FOB Black Sea (Russian origin) Granular Urea | 5,000-10,000 mt | Spot. Novorossiysk | Loading one to six weeks forward |
FOB Black Sea (non-Russian origin) Granular Urea | 5,000-10,000 mt | Spot. Batumi | Loading one to six weeks forward |
| FOB Black Sea Prilled Urea | 5,000-10,000 mt | Spot. Novorossiysk | Loading one to six weeks forward |
| FOB Middle East (excl. USA) Granular Urea | 30,000-45,000 mt | Spot. Mesaieed | Loading one to six weeks forward |
| FOB Middle East Prilled Urea | 30,000-45,000 mt | Spot. Mesaieed | Loading one to six weeks forward |
The new daily assessments would be published as a single "close" value.
Under this proposal, Platts would continue to publish its existing weekly assessments for granular urea: FOB Baltic (FGUBA04), FOB Middle East excl. USA (FGUMA04), FOB Black Sea (FGUBB04). It would also continue publishing its existing weekly assessments for prilled urea: FOB Middle East (FPUMA04), FOB Black Sea (FPUBB04) and FOB Baltic Sea (FPUBA04). It would define and standardize the relationship between these weekly assessments and the proposed new daily assessments listed above.
Currently, the weekly assessments are published as a range with a "low" and a "high" value. Platts proposes that, as of July 3,2025, these low and high values would consistently reflect the lowest and highest of the daily assessments published over the course of the seven days up to and including the date of publication.
Also, Platts would launch a third, "close," value for all six legacy weekly assessments mentioned above, reflecting market value at 16:30 London time on Thursdays, mirroring that day's daily assessment.
Platts seeks market feedback on all elements of this proposal and any other parameters of its urea assessments not covered above.
Please send any feedback, questions and comments by May 23to Fertilizer@spglobal.com and PriceGroup@spglobal.com.
For written comments, please provide a clear indication if comments are not intended for publication by Platts for public viewing. Platts will consider all comments received and will make comments not marked as confidential available upon request.