Platts proposes changes to NW Europe ammonia assessments, alignment of weekly and daily coverage

Platts, part of S&P Global Commodity Insights, is proposing to amend and align the specifications of its CFR Northwest Europe ammonia assessments, effective Jan. 1, 2025.

These changes are intended to provide a more precise assessment of market value in light of greater volatility in the ammonia market in recent years, and would also align Platts' daily and weekly ammonia coverage, for greater consistency.

Spot and contract market assessments

Platts proposes to remove the contract component from its weekly CFR NW Europe (duty paid/duty free) (FNWEA04) and CFR NW Europe (duty unpaid), (FANEA04) assessments. At present, Platts considers information from spot and contract markets, which can be settled on different cadences.

Following this proposed change, these assessments would reflect the value of product sold in the spot market, taking consideration of spot bid, offer and transaction data. In line with Platts methodology, when no spot bid, offer or transaction data exists, Platts may consider other verifiable data reported and published through the day, including fully and partially confirmed trades, notional trading values and other market information as provided for publication.

Location, quantity and timing specifications

In addition, Platts is proposing changes to the location, quantity and timing specifications of the weekly and daily NW Europe ammonia assessments. This would result in alignment in specifications between the daily CFR NW Europe (duty paid/duty free) assessment ( FANEB00) and the weekly CFR NW Europe (duty paid/duty free) (FNWEA04).

Firstly, Platts proposes to change the quantity specification for the weekly and daily assessments to a basis of 15,000 mt to better reflect typical transaction sizes in NW Europe. Platts would normalize information to this point where necessary. At present, the weekly assessments reflect a minimum 4,000 mt clip size. This change would align the volume specifications for the weekly assessments with those of the daily assessment.

Secondly, Platts also proposes to narrow the basis location specification of the daily and weekly assessments to CFR NW Europe, basis Antwerp and Rotterdam. The assessments currently reflect information relating to all ammonia-importing ports in Belgium, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, the Netherlands, Norway, Sweden and the UK, without any normalization to a basis port. Following the change, Platts would continue to consider market information relating to these locations, subject to normalization to the Antwerp and Rotterdam basis.

Thirdly, Platts would change the delivery window of the weekly assessments to reflect cargoes for delivery one to six weeks forward, compared with product shipped up to six weeks forward under the current methodology. Platts would also clarify the wording of the daily assessment specifications to cargoes for delivery one to six weeks forward, compared with product to be shipped one to six weeks forward at present.

The revised specifications for each of the assessments would read as follows:

FNWEA04 --CFR NW Europe (duty paid/duty free) -- weekly

• Quality: Anhydrous ammonia, which is around 82% Nitrogen and is stored and transported as a liquid under pressure at around minus 33 degrees Celsius
• Quantity: Basis 15,000 mt
• Basis and location: T2 spot product, CFR NW Europe, basis Antwerp/Rotterdam (assessment considers market activity at ammonia-importing terminals in NW Europe, defined as those as far northeast as Finland and as far southwest as France).
• Timing: Delivery one to six weeks forward
• Frequency: Weekly
• Appears in: Ammonia Market Report
• Unit of assessment: US dollars per mt

FANEA04 --CFR NW Europe (duty unpaid)

• Quality: Anhydrous ammonia, which is around 82% Nitrogen and is stored and transported as a liquid under pressure at around minus 33 degrees Celsius
• Quantity: Basis 15,000 mt
• Basis and location: T1 spot product, CFR NW Europe, basis Antwerp/Rotterdam (assessment considers market activity at ammonia-importing terminals in NW Europe, defined as those as far northeast as Finland and as far southwest as France).
• Timing: Delivery one to six weeks forward
• Frequency: Weekly
• Appears in: Ammonia Market Report
• Unit of assessment: US dollars per mt

FANEB00 --CFR NW Europe (duty paid/duty free) -- daily

• Quality: Anhydrous ammonia, which is around 82% Nitrogen and is stored and transported as a liquid under pressure at around minus 33 degrees Celsius
• Quantity: Basis 15,000 mt
• Basis and location: T2 spot product, CFR NW Europe, basis Antwerp/Rotterdam (assessment considers market activity at ammonia-importing terminals in NW Europe, defined as those as far northeast as Finland and as far southwest as France).
• Timing: Delivery one to six weeks forward
• Frequency: Daily
• Appears in: Ammonia Daily Price Report, Platts Fertecon Daily
• Unit of assessment: US dollars per mt

Alignment of Daily, Weekly CFR NW Europe (duty paid/duty free) ammonia assessments

In addition, Platts proposes to define and standardize the relationship between the weekly and daily duty paid/duty free assessments. Currently, the weekly assessment is published as a range with a low and a high value. Platts proposes that as of Jan. 1, 2025, these bates would consistently reflect the lowest and highest of the daily assessments published over the course of the preceding week.

Platts would also launch a third "close" value for the weekly assessment, reflecting market value at 1630 London time on Thursdays, mirroring that day's daily assessment.

For example, in the week of June 14-20, 2024, Platts published its daily NW Europe ammonia assessment at $460/mt on Friday June 14, and at $460/mt ,$460/mt, $450/mt, and $450/mt on the following four working days up to Thursday June 20. In this scenario, the weekly range assessment would have been published at $450-$460/mt, and the close value would have been $450/mt, with the latter reflecting value at the close of the market on Thursday June 20.

Platts seeks market feedback on all elements of this proposal, and any other parameters of its NW Europe ammonia assessments not covered above.

The CFR NW Europe duty paid/duty free and duty unpaid assessments appear in the Ammonia Market Report and are available via Platts Connect, while the daily CFR NW Europe duty paid/duty free assessment appears in Ammonia Daily Price Report and Platts Fertecon Daily.

Please send any feedback, questions and comments to fertilizer@spglobal.com, and pricegroup@spglobal.com by July 31, 2024.

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.