MKC, Moundridge, Kan., has entered into a letter of intent to acquire Mid-West Fertilizer Inc., a full-service agricultural retailer headquartered in Paola, Kan., the companies announced on Oct. 15. The acquisition is expected to be completed in early 2020, and will include Mid-West’s grain, wholesale and retail agronomy, energy, feed, and trucking operations.

The two companies are currently completing the required legal documents and due diligence necessary to finalize the transaction. MKC and Mid-West have collaborated for three years through their relationship with Team Marketing Alliance LLC, a majority-owned subsidiary of MKC.

Rod Silver, President and CEO of Mid-West, will continue to lead Mid-West after the acquisition. Mid-West has 155 employees and 25 locations in Kansas, Arkansas, Oklahoma, and Missouri.

The World Trade Organization (WTO) on Oct. 2 backed a U.S. request to impose $7.5 billion in tariffs on European goods in response to charges that illegal subsidies were granted to planemaker Airbus by the European governments of Germany, Frances, Spain, and the U.K.

An initial list of products that would potentially be subject to tariffs was published by the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) in April, and a supplemental list released in July included some fertilizer products, including anhydrous ammonia, urea, UAN, ammonium sulfate, and ammonium nitrate.

The ruling is the largest arbitration award in WTO history, and represents a significant development in the 15-year long Airbus-Boeing battle. In response to the ruling, the EU threatened to retaliate to any U.S.-imposed tariffs. “If the U.S. decides to impose WTO authorized countermeasures, it will be pushing the EU into a situation where we will have no other option than do the same,” Brussels said in a statement.

Ostara Nutrient Recovery Technologies Inc., Vancouver, B.C., announced on Oct. 2 that it has entered into a long-term granulation tolling agreement to ramp up production of its Crystal Green sustainable phosphorus-based fertilizer products at a facility in the southeastern U.S. While the specific location of the facility was not revealed, Ostara confirmed that it is in Florida and has significant storage capacity and rail and truck access.

First production at the commercial tolling facility is expected to commence on or about Oct. 15, and will scale up with the completion of necessary equipment upgrades and the receipt of pending regulatory approvals. Ostara said the agreement, which effectively triples its existing production volumes, is in response to existing orders and increased global demand for Crystal Green, which is sold into the agriculture and turf markets through a network of distributors in North America and Europe.

Netherlands-headquartered OCI NV and Abu Dhabi National Oil Co. (ADNOC) have announced the completion of their transaction to combine ADNOC’s fertilizer business into OCI’s Middle East and North Africa (MENA) nitrogen fertilizer platform, creating a world-leading joint venture. The combined company, which has been named Fertiglobe, started trading on Oct. 1 and is headquartered in the international financial center Abu Dhabi Global Market.

Fertiglobe will be the largest export-focused nitrogen fertilizer platform globally, and the largest producer in the MENA region with a production capacity of 5 million mt/y of urea and 1.5 million mt/y of merchant ammonia. It has over $1.7 billion of annual revenues based on 2018 pro-forma figures. OCI will fully consolidate the combined business. OCI owns a 58 percent stake in Fertiglobe, and ADNOC a 42 percent stake.

The transaction will place the OCI companies EBIC, EFC, and Sorfert, and the former ADNOC Fertilizers (Fertil) under the ownership of the new Fertiglobe joint venture. The two parties first revealed their plans in June to combine their Middle East and North African fertilizer assets in a new joint venture.

Tokyo-based Marubeni Corp. has discussed the possible sale of its U.S. grains unit Gavilon Group LLC with at least two other trading firms, Bloomberg reported on Sept. 30, citing people familiar with the matter. Talks are preliminary and no decision has been made, the people said. In response to Bloomberg inquiries, Marubeni denied that it has sounded out or approached trading firms for a potential sale of Gavilon and said it is not considering selling the unit. Gavilon declined to comment.

Marubeni bought Omaha-based Gavilon for $2.7 billion in 2013 in an effort to expand its sourcing of corn and soybeans to better compete with other top global grain traders in Asia. Since then, low commodity prices and the U.S.-China trade war have weighed on both companies, Bloomberg reported. More than two years ago, Gavilon was seen as a potential target for Glencore Plc as the Swiss company looked to enter the U.S. grains-trading market, but Gavilon denied it was looking for a buyer.

Nutrien Ltd., Saskatoon, Sask., on Sept. 30 announced the close of its acquisition of Ruralco Holdings Limited in Hobart, Tasmania. Nutrien said the combination of Ruralco’s business with its Landmark operations is expected to provide significant benefits for stakeholders and enhance the delivery of products and services to Australian farmers.

Nutrien announced in February 2019 that it had entered into a binding agreement to acquire all the shares of Ruralco at a price of A$4.40 per share, for a total purchase price of $469 million. Ruralco is one of Australia’s leading agriservices businesses, with 216 farm centers and more than 500 locations company-wide. Nutrien said it has steadily grown its retail business and earnings in Australia, with annual EBITDA expected to surpass US$230 million in 2020, of which approximately US$70 million is anticipated to come from the Ruralco acquisition, after accounting for expected synergies.

The Indian government this week announced it would start closing its state-owned trading companies STC and MMTC. The announcement said the closing would take place one at a time without a specified timetable. The first to go is expected to be STC. The trading house showed losses in the 2018/19 fiscal year exceeding US$124 million.

The closing of MMTC as a state-owned enterprise will come in steps, according to Indian media reports. The plan announced so far will reduce the government’s stake in MMTC from 90 percent to 75 percent. Other reports indicated the government may move to completely divest itself of MMTC.

International traders called the announcement significant. Currently all urea for agriculture use is imported by MMTC, STC, and IPL. So far this year only MMTC has been importing urea. Urea, unlike phosphates and potash, is heavily subsidized and remains a politically volatile commodity. Efforts to lower subsidies or to move urea sales to a market-based system have been met with opposition from farmers and agriculture groups in the country. One source told Green Markets the move could open a window of opportunity for private-sector companies to import urea. Given the political nature of urea imports, however, the government will most likely remain involved in the urea market.

Anuvia Plant Nutrients, Zellwood, Fla., reported on Sept. 24 that it has signed a long-term lease agreement with The Mosaic Co. to utilize a portion of Mosaic’s shuttered Plant City, Fla., phosphate production facility to manufacture Anuvia’s bio-based plant nutrient products. Anuvia said the strategic agreement will expand its production capacity to 1.2 million st/y, up from the current 80,000 st/y produced at the company’s existing Zellwood facility.

Anuvia said it will re-purpose existing infrastructure at Plant City, with plans to add approximately 135 new employees and have the facility operational by second quarter 2020. Anuvia’s products include SymTRX™ for the agricultural sector, GreenTRX™ for the turf industry, and ANUGREEN for the consumer residential lawn market.

The Mosaic Co., Plymouth, Minn., announced in June that it was permanently closing the Plant City facility, which is located in Hillsborough County, Fla. The plant was idled in late 2017 due to global phosphate market conditions.

USDA’S latest Crop Production and World Agricultural Supply and Demand Estimates (WASDE) reports, released on Sept. 12, estimate average corn yields at 168.2 bushels/acre, down 1.3 bu/a from the previous forecast and a full 8.2 bu/a below 2018. Corn production for grain was  projected at 13.8 billion bushels, down 1 percent from the previous forecast and 4 percent below last year. The season-average corn price received by producers was unchanged at $3.60/bushel.

Soybean production was estimated at 3.63 billion bushels, down 1 percent from the previous forecast and down 20 percent from last year, with average yields estimated at 47.9 bu/a, down 0.6 bushel from the previous forecast and down 3.7 bushels from 2018. The U.S. season-average soybean price for 2019/20 was estimated at $8.50/bushel, up 10 cents from the previous forecast.

Nutrien Ltd. announced late on Sept. 11 that it expects to proactively take up to eight-week inventory shutdowns at its Allan, Lanigan, and Vanscoy potash mines in Saskatchewan during the fourth quarter of 2019. The company said the production downtime is in response to a short-term slowdown in the global potash markets.

If all three potash facilities remain idled for the full eight weeks, Nutrien said potash production could be reduced by approximately 700,000 mt and potash annual EBITDA could be reduced by US$100-$150 million. Despite current market conditions, the company said it remains positive on potash demand for 2020, as well as the medium to long-term potash fundamentals.