Yara International ASA, Oslo, has begun the restart of ammonia production at its sites in Ferrara, Italy, and Le Havre, France, CEO Svein Tore Holsether told Reuters on April 1.
Yara announced on March 9 that it was temporarily curtailing production at the two sites, which combined have an annual ammonia capacity of 1 million mt/y and urea of .9 million mt/y (GM March 11, p. 1).
Including optimization and maintenance at other production facilities, Yara said its European ammonia and urea production was expected to be operating at approximately 45 percent of capacity. There was no word on April 1 as to the status of the other plants.
Around the time of Yara’s March 9 announcement and afterwards, several other European nitrogen producers also announced plant curtailments or reduced rates, including Borealis AG, Nitrogenmuvex, EuroChem Group AG, Achema, Petrokemija, and Grupa Azoty (GM March 18, p. 1).