Oslo — Yara International ASA, citing weaker fertilizer markets, saw a 97 percent drop in net income for the fourth quarter ending Dec. 31, 2013, to NOK 59 million on sales of NOK 20.6 billion, versus the year-ago NOK 2,153 million and NOK 21 billion, respectively. Yara said things were so bad during the quarter that it considered curtailment of some of its commodity nitrogen plants. It said although prices have improved, it will continue to evaluate temporary or permanent capacity curtailments on an ongoing basis, linked to market price developments and investment decisions. Things were also not rosy in Libya, where the Lifeco nitrogen complex had a controlled shutdown in early January due to a local militia blocking the site. Yara continues to evaluate that situation and said it is unclear when production can resume. Fourth-quarter fertilizer sales volumes were up 13 percent, to 7.64 million mt from the year-ago 6.85 million, with much of this coming from the Bunge-related acquisition in Brazil. Full-year income was off 46 percent, to NOK 5,748 million on sales of NOK 85 billion, versus 2012’s NOK 10,552 million and NOK 84.5 billion, respectively. Sales volumes were 30.8 million mt, up from 28 million mt.
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