Sioux City-Terra Industries Inc. said June 25 that on July 1, 2009, it will temporarily idle production at its Donaldsonville, La., ammonia manufacturing facility due to current market economics. Terra plans to restart the facility when market conditions improve. The Donaldsonville facility has the capacity to produce 500,000 st of ammonia per year. Industry sources attributed the market conditions to three factors – an ongoing slump in industrial demand, the end of the spring agricultural season, and lower ammonia prices. As Green Markets went to press, sources were predicting July import ammonia prices of $175/mt. Even with low natural gas prices, sources say NOLA production economics would be hard pressed to compete with imports.
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