Overland Park, Kan.—Compass Minerals, which owns specialty fertilizer maker Great Salt Lake Minerals, said Jan. 9 that it expects its salt business to see a large drop in volumes for the fourth quarter ending Dec. 31, 2011 – to 2.72 million tons from the year-ago 3.28 million tons. The company said there were 16 snow events in 11 representative cities in the primary North American highway deicing service area during the fourth quarter, versus 50 events in the same cities during the year-ago quarter. However, the company said while the number of snow events was down 68 percent and was well below the ten-year average, the company deicing volumes were down only 17 percent from the year-ago quarter due to strong customer demand to establish pre-season stockpiles, along with above average sales in the United Kingdom market.
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