All posts by hlancey@bloomberg.net

Emergency Cited for Fatal Tanker Crash

Ammonia, News, News Briefs, Texas, U.S.

A medical emergency involving the driver of a tanker truck carrying anhydrous ammonia was reported to be the cause of a fatal Oct. 10 accident on Interstate 10 near Willcox, Ariz., according to the Arizona Department of Public Safety (ADPS).

The ADPS said the emergency caused the tanker truck to drift out of the westbound lanes, cross a dirt median, and hit a box truck head on. The driver of the box truck sustained life-threatening injuries and his passenger, who was in a sleeper berth, was killed. The driver of the tanker truck sustained minor injuries.

A very small amount of anhydrous ammonia was leaking after the collision. The remaining amount of the liquid was transferred to another tanker.

The owner of the tractor-trailer carrying the ammonia was Kimrad Transport, Amarillo, Texas, according to ADPS.

Schuyler Coop Completes $7 M Project

News, News Briefs, Nitrogen, U.S.

Nebraska’s Schuyler Cooperative Association reported that it has completed its $7 million new dry fertilizer facility in Richland, Neb. Cooperative members got to see the new facility at an open house at the annual fish fry last month.

Schuyler told The Columbus Telegram that the new facility is “cutting edge” and will allow it to add biologicals, nitrogen inhibitors, and phosphate impregnation to its offerings, with a better blending system for both truck and rail pickups. Automation will allow the facility to be a two-man operation.

Schuyler will retain its older 2,000 st facility, with combined storage now put at some 10,000 st. Schuyler noted that the facility was already paid for and its addition should have no negative impact on dividends going forward.

GROWMARK Completes Move to New Headquarters

News, News Briefs

GROWMARK said on Oct. 12 that it recently completed its move to a new corporate headquarters located at 1705 Towanda Avenue in Bloomington, Ill. The cooperative purchased the building from COUNTRY Financial a little more than a year-ago. A ribbon-cutting ceremony is planned with the McLean County Chamber of Commerce for Oct. 17.

GROWMARK employs around 498 employees at the Bloomington office.

Russia Mulls Increasing Fertilizer Export Quota

News, News Briefs, Nitrogen, Russia

Russia may increase the export quota for fertilizers in place for June 1-Nov. 30, 2023, raising the quota by 2.2 million mt, to more than 18.5 million mt, according to an Interfax report this week, citing a draft government resolution.

Russia’s Industry and Trade Ministry has drawn up the draft resolution after calculating the additional quota based on the latest data on production, inventories, and supplies of fertilizers. The additional quota reflects the amount not needed on the Russian domestic market.

The Russian government first introduced quotas for the export of nitrogen and complex fertilizers on Dec. 1, 2021, as one of the measures to ensure the domestic market had sufficient supply of fertilizers (GM Nov. 5, 2021).

The export restrictions have been extended several times over the intervening period. In May Russia green-lighted an extension of quotas on the export of nitrogen fertilizers and certain other fertilizer products for the June 1-Nov. 30 period (GM June 2, p. 1). A total export quota of more than 16.3 million mt was set at that time.

Russian Ferts Railed for Export Up in September

China, Europe, India, Latin America, News, News Briefs, Russia, Switzerland, Transportation

The volume of fertilizers transported by rail for export from Russia totaled some 3.06 million mt in September, marking a 23% increase on the 2.5 million mt in September last year, according to an Interfax report, citing data from Russian Railways.

September volumes were little changed from August this year, however, when 3.04 million mt were transported by rail for export.

Rail Volumes for Export by Destination (‘000 mt)

Destination Sept 2023 Aug 2023 % change
Latin America 1,433 1,323 +8
China & Hong Kong 276 200 +18
India 179 200 (10)
EU 258 271 (5)
Switzerland 712 744 (4)
CIS 106 137 (23)

Transit volumes transported by rail in September were significantly higher year-over-year, at 1.02 million mt versus 329,000 mt a year ago. Transit volumes in August totaled 884,000 mt.

Potash volumes transported by rail for export from Russia totaled 1.01 million mt in September, while nitrogen fertilizer volumes amounted to 1.11 million mt. Phosphate and complex fertilizers volumes totaled 872,000 mt, according to the report.

In the first nine months of 2023, 24.45 million mt of fertilizers were transported by rail for export, a 5% increase from last year when 23.27 million mt were exported. Transit volumes were 7.14 million mt for the nine months, up from 2.17 million mt last year, according to the report.

Acron to Increase CN Production Capacity

Africa, Calcium Nitrate, India, Latin America, Mexico, News, News Briefs, Russia, Southeast Asia

Acron Group is expanding and upgrading the granulated calcium nitrate (CN) capacity at its Veliky Novgorod site in northwest Russia, which on completion will take its aggregate CN production capacity to 270,000 mt/y from the current 100,000 mt/y.

Acron reported on Oct. 9 that it is increasing capacity at the existing CN unit to 135,000 mt/y, from the current nameplate 100,000 mt/y. Acron in July said the unit has been exceeding its design capacity since the beginning of 2023 (GM July 14, p. 28). The facility, Acron’s first CN production plant, was commissioned in 2022 (GM Aug. 12, 2022).

A second CN production unit, also with 135,000 mt/y capacity, is already under construction and is scheduled to be commissioned by the end of 2024. Acron uses liquid CN, a byproduct of apatite concentrate processing at the group’s NPK plants, as the feedstock for the new product, according to a company statement in July.

Acron produced 45,000 mt of CN in the first six months of this year (GM July 21, p. 28). The group said in its Oct. 9 press release that since the commissioning of the first CN unit, it has supplied more than 80,000 mt of CN to customers in Russia, Latin America (including Brazil and Mexico), Africa, India, Southeast Asia, and the CIS. The CN is shipped in 25-kg bags and larger bags of various volumes.

PhosAgro Shareholders File Claim Against Bank

Baltic Sea, News, News Briefs, Russia, Switzerland

Two companies, which together own a 43.6% shareholding in PJSC PhosAgro, have filed lawsuits against Belgium-based Euroclear Bank for a total of about RUB3.4 billion (approximately $34 million at current exchange rates), Interfax reported on Oct. 9.

The lawsuits were filed by Chlodwig Enterprises and Adorabella at the arbitration court in the Kaliningrad Special Administrative Region (SAR), where the two shareholding companies are registered. Kaliningrad Oblast is the westernmost federal subject of the Russian Federation and is a semi-exclave situated on the Baltic Sea.

In both claims Renaissance Securities (Cyprus) Ltd. is listed as a co-defendant with Euroclear, according to the report. The claims of Chlodwig Enterprises total RUB1.77 billion and Adorabella RUB1.6 billion. The content of the claims has not been disclosed.

According to PhosAgro’s website, Chlodwig Enterprises owned about 20.31% of the Russian fertilizer group’s shares as of June 30, 2023, while Adorabella owned 23.35% of the shares. Both shareholding companies re-domiciled from Switzerland, where they previously were registered, to the SAR in April 2022 (GM April 22, 2022).

Until April 2022, the two companies were the holding companies through which Russian billionaire Andrey G. Guryev, PhosAgro’s founder and former head, held a majority stake in the Russian fertilizer group, along with members of his family.

Ahead of the new registration, however, the shares in Chlodwig Enterprises and Adorabella were transferred to trusts, the economic beneficiaries of which were Guryev, his wife, and daughter, according to an Interfax report in April 2022, citing PhosAgro’s website. Gurvey’s wife Yevgenia owned an additional 4.82% interest in the fertilizer group.

Gurvey and his son, Andrey A. Guryev, resigned their PhosAgro Board memberships in March 2022 after being included on the European Union’s (EU) expanded list of sanctioned individuals (GM March 11, 2022). Andrey A. Guryev also stepped down as PhosAgro’s CEO.

Last November, Chlodwig Enterprises and Adorabella were added to the US’s “Specially Designated Nationals” (SDN) list.

Grupa Azoty Subsidiary Resumes Production

Ammonia, News, News Briefs, Nitric Acid, Poland, UAN, Urea

Polish fertilizer and chemicals producer Grupa Azoty S.A. on Oct. 10 said its Zakłady Azotowe Kędzierzyn S.A. subsidiary resumed nitric acid and fertilizer production “at minimum plant loads” in the last week of September. It said more production facilities at Kędzierzyn are currently being put back in operation and gradually ramped up to full capacity.

Kędzierzyn’s ammonia unit halted production on Sept. 5 after a malfunction (GM Sept. 8, p 25). As a consequence, production of fertilizers, nitric acid, UAN, urea, and OXO alcohols were also temporarily stopped at the site.

Azoty earlier put the preliminary estimated cost of the failure of the ammonia plant at about Pln20 million, or approximately $4.68 million at current exchange rates (GM Sept. 29, p. 27).

OCP, World Bank Invest in West Africa Fertilizers

Africa, News, News Briefs

OCP Chairman and CEO Mostafa Terrab and World Bank Vice President for Western and Central Africa Ousmane Diagana on Oct. 12 signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) to foster cooperation and programs benefitting five million farmers in Benin, Guinea, Mali, and Togo, covering 10 million hectares.

This cooperation aims at accelerating investments and reforms to make fertilizers more accessible and affordable to farmers, the two partners said.

“These projects are an important step towards unlocking Africa’s potential in global food security,” said OCP Group Chairman and CEO Mostafa Terrab. “The goal is to drive a just and sustainable agricultural transition, by widening the access of farmers in West Africa to customized fertilizers that nourish the soil and improve crop yields, which in turn enhances the livelihoods of farmers, thereby contributing to African development and prosperity.”

The partnership will focus on five areas of cooperation, including improving soil health and fertility through digital soil mapping analysis and customized fertilization; establishing agricultural technology and service centers to train and support smallholder farmers; launching a Digital Farming School program to foster local capacities and entrepreneurship to transform the agri-food sector; strengthening the capacity of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) to operationalize its roadmap on fertilizers and soil health; and supporting the establishment of a Regional Center for Soil Health and Fertility management in West Africa hosted by the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA).

Petrobras, Vale Partner on Low-Carbon Solutions

Brazil, Carbon, Green Ammonia, News, News Briefs

Brazil’s Petrobras and Vale have signed a protocol of intentions to develop low-carbon solutions, saying they are taking advantage of technical expertise and synergies, according to a Petrobras filing, Bloomberg reported.

The partnership will last two years and provides for the assessment of decarbonization opportunities covering the development of initiatives in sustainable fuels such as hydrogen, green methanol, biobunker, green ammonia, and renewable diesel, as well as CO2 capture and storage technologies.

The deal also provides for the evaluation of potential agreements to supply low-carbon fuels produced by Petrobras for consumption in Vale’s operations.

In its own filing, Vale said that the partnership could contribute to achieving its commitment to reduce absolute scope 1 and 2 emissions by 33% by 2030 and achieve neutrality by 2050.