CF Industries Holdings Inc. in releasing stellar earnings for the fourth quarter and year ending Dec. 31, 2011, confirmed that it has curtailed phosphate production in the first quarter. CF said it did so by advancing the timing of scheduled plant turnarounds. It said plans for the turnarounds were finalized in December in recognition of the then-prevailing market imbalance. The U.S.-based The Mosaic Co. announced earlier that it would cut DAP production by 250,000 mt, with a few international producers doing likewise.
CF reported net earnings attributable to common stockholders of $438.9 million ($6.66 per diluted share) on sales of $1.72 billion for the fourth quarter ending Dec. 31, 2011, compared to the year-ago $200.3 million ($2.78 per share) on sales of $1.24 billion.
For the year, CF reported net income of $1.54 billion ($21.98 per share) on sales of $6.1 billion compared to the prior year $349.2 million ($5.34 per share) on sales of $3.96 billion.
For more details, see the Green Markets web-edition Feb. 17.