Chemicals, Fertilizers
June 27, 2025
Platts launches daily urea assessments in the Baltic, Black Sea and Middle East regions; refines methodology for existing weekly urea assessments
Platts, part of S&P Global Commodity Insights, has launched seven daily granular and prilled urea FOB assessments for the Baltic Sea, Black Sea (both Russian and non-Russian origin) and the Middle East, effective June 27, 2025.
Platts initially proposed the launch and the changes to the methodology on May 13 in a subscriber note available here, followed by a decision on May 30 in a subscriber note available here.
These daily assessments will better capture price developments within the fertilizer market throughout the week.
The specifications for these seven daily assessments, along with their symbol codes, are as follows:
| Assessment name | Symbol | Quantity | Basis and location | Timing |
FOB Baltic Sea Granular Urea | FGUBA00 | 25,000-35,000 mt | Spot. Ust-Luga | Loading one to six weeks forward |
FOB Baltic Sea Prilled Urea | FPUBA00 | 25,000-35,000 mt | Spot. Ust-Luga | Loading one to six weeks forward |
FOB Black Sea (Russian origin) Granular Urea | FGUBB00 | 5,000-10,000 mt | Spot. Novorossiysk | Loading one to six weeks forward |
FOB Black Sea (non-Russian origin) Granular Urea | FGUBX00 | 5,000-10,000 mt | Spot. Batumi | Loading one to six weeks forward |
FOB Black Sea Prilled Urea | FPUBB00 | 5,000-10,000 mt | Spot. Novorossiysk | Loading one to six weeks forward |
FOB Middle East (excl. USA) Granular Urea | FGUMA00 | 30,000-45,000 mt | Spot. Mesaieed | Loading one to six weeks forward |
FOB Middle East Prilled Urea | FPUMA00 | 30,000-45,000 mt | Spot. Mesaieed | Loading one to six weeks forward |
The new daily assessments will be published as a single "close" value Monday-Friday in $/mt reflecting the market value at 16:30 London close each day and will appear in the Platts Fertecon Daily publication, along with Platts Connect and Platts pricing database.
Simultaneously, Platts has defined and standardized the relationship between the new daily assessments listed above and the existing weekly assessments (listed below).
Weekly granular urea: FOB Baltic (FGUBA04) and FOB Middle East (excl. US) (FGUMA04); FOB Black Sea (FPUBB04)
Weekly prilled urea: FOB Middle East (FPUMA04), FOB Black Sea (FPUBB04) and FOB Baltic Sea (FPUBA04)
The weekly assessments are published as a range with a "low" and a "high" value. These low and high values will consistently reflect the lowest and highest of the daily assessments published over the seven days up to and including the date of publication (Friday to Thursday).
For the weekly FOB Black Sea Granular Urea (FPUBB04), the range reflects the lowest and highest daily assessments of FOB Black Sea Granular Urea (Russian origin) (FGUBB00) and FOB Black Sea Granular Urea (non-Russian origin) (FGUBX00) over the seven days up to and including the date of publication (Friday to Thursday).
Platts has also launched a third, "close," value for the legacy weekly assessments mentioned above, reflecting market value at 16:30 London time on Thursdays, mirroring that day's daily assessment.
All above changes to the weekly assessments will take effect on July 3, reflecting the daily assessments launched effective June 27.
The weekly assessments will continue to appear in the Platts Nitrogen Market Report publication, along with Platts Connect and Platts pricing database.
Please send any feedback, questions and comments to fertilizer@spglobal.com and pricegroup@spglobal.com.
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