All posts by mickeybarb@charter.net

Scotts Miracle-Gro Co. – Management Brief

Eastern Cornbelt, Management Briefs, Specialty

The Scotts Miracle-Gro Co., Marysville, Ohio, announced on June 13 that former Nevada Governor Brian Sandoval has been named to its Board of Directors. He served two terms from 2011 to 2019 and is currently the President of the University of Nevada, Reno, a position he has held since 2020.

Previously, he served as a District Judge of the United States District Court for the District of Nevada, Attorney General of Nevada, and in the Nevada Assembly.

Sandoval will serve on the Board’s Innovation and Technology Committee and its Nominating and Governance Committee.

AdvanSix – Management Brief

Management Briefs, Northeast

AdvanSix, Parsippany, N.J., said on June 15 that Willem Blindenbach, Senior Vice President, Integrated Supply Chain, provided notice of his resignation from this role effective July 1, 2022. The company said in connection with his departure he will receive severance benefits consistent with the terms of the company’s Executive Severance Pay Plan, contingent on his execution of an employment separation agreement and his execution and non-revocation of a release of claims, if any, against the company.

Saudi Aramco Plans 11 M mt of Blue Ammonia Production by 2030; Net-Zero Sought by 2050

Blue Ammonia, Featured, News, Saudi Arabia

The Saudi Arabian Oil Co. (Saudi Aramco), Dhahran, announced on June 15 that it plans to produce up to 11 million mt/y of blue ammonia by 2030, with the potential to support significant emissions reductions in hard-to-decarbonize sectors such as heavy-duty transport, heating, and industrial applications.

The news was part of company’s first sustainability report, which outlines ways in which the company plans to further tackle emissions while delivering reliable, affordable energy solutions.

“Our ambition is to achieve operational net-zero by 2050 and our sustainability report highlights how we aim to continue meeting the world’s rising demand for secure, reliable, and affordable energy, while also contributing to the broader energy transition, said Saudi Aramco President and CEO Amin H. Nasser. “We are investing for the long-term, against a backdrop of global energy and economic uncertainty, and we will continue to integrate breakthrough technologies in our operations over the next decade and beyond.”

Other highlights from the report include: aims to reduce upstream carbon intensity by at least 15% by 2035, against 2018 baseline; greenhouse gas emission initiatives aiming to reduce or mitigate more than 50 million mt of CO2 equivalent annually by 2035; aims to capture, utilize, or store 11 million mt of CO2 equivalent annually by 2035; and renewables investment aims to generate 12GW of solar and wind power annually by 2035.

USDA Extends Comment Deadline Again

News, News Briefs, U.S.

The USDA announced on June 14 that it is extending the deadline for comments and information from the public about its “Access to Fertilizer: Competition and Supply Chain Concerns” notice originally published in the Federal Register on March 17, 2022. The new deadline for comments is July 15, 2022. The previous deadlines for comments were May 16, 2022, and June 15, 2022 (GM May 27, p. 28).

“We are extending the deadline for comments an additional month to enable commenters to provide additional feedback regarding the role of capacity expansion and related strategies to directly enhance competition in the fertilizer market,” said Andy Green, USDA’s Senior Advisor for Fair and Competitive Markets.

“USDA is committed to using every tool at its disposal to enhance competition and improve resiliency in the fertilizer market. Finding ways to encourage sustainable and independent choices for fertilizer supplies demonstrates the Biden-Harris administration’s ongoing investment in American goods and services to rebuild a more resilient, secure, and sustainable economy,” he added.

In a June 14 Federal Register notice, USDA said it continues seeking input on:

  • What obstacles exist to the financing and development of new fertilizer capacity that would enhance the competitiveness of fertilizer markets?
  • Would new or expanded domestic manufacturing, mining, processing, or alternative fertilizer production capacity help promote access to and affordability of fertilizer for agricultural producers?
  • Are there existing “shovel ready” manufacturing, mining, or other processes that could or should be adjusted to facilitate new fertilizer production?
  • Are there other potential new entrants in the near- or medium-term?
  • How might USDA best support investment in new fertilizer capacity in the U.S.?

When USDA announced the competition inquiry (GM March 18, p. 27), it also announced a new grant program to support independent, innovative, and sustainable American fertilizer production to supply American farmers. The grants will go to production outside the dominant fertilizer suppliers, so as to increase competition. It has since moved the grant funding up to $500 million (GM May 13, p. 1) from the initial $250 million.

Argentine Potash Project Gets Another Look

Argentina, China, Europe, News, News Briefs, Potash, South America, U.S.

Prospective investors are reported to be circling a giant potash project in Argentina’s Mendoza Province at a time when Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and sanctions on Belarus are reshaping the global fertilizer trade, according to a Bloomberg report.

Companies from Europe, China, and the Americas have expressed interest in the half-completed Rio Colorado project, with provincial authorities expected to call for formal bids later this year and award the contract in early 2023, said Emilio Guinazu, Director General of province-owned PRC SA, which holds the asset.

“There’s a readjustment of global fertilizer trade, and people are looking for new providers,” Guinazu said on June 13 in an interview on the sidelines of the Prospectors & Developers Association of Canada conference in Toronto. “There’s an opportunity. The market is hot, and we’re seeing that.”

Mendoza – better known for its exports of Malbec wine than its vast mineral wealth – took over Rio Colorado after years of wrangling with Vale SA. The Brazilian company pulled the plug in 2013 after spending $2.2 billion to build almost half the mine (GM Jan. 28, 2013). It acquired the project from Rio Tinto in 2009 (GM Feb. 9, 2009). The Mosaic Co., Tampa, opted against taking the Rio Colorado assets when it purchased the bulk of Vale’s fertilizer assets in 2018 (GM Jan. 5, 2018).

Luring investment would be a big win in a country where onerous business rules, including capital controls, have scared off investors in the past, although recent years have seen significant spending in Argentine lithium deposits.

Rio Colorado has the potential to produce 4.5 million mt/y, but that scale would require rail investments to get the potash to an Atlantic port for export to markets like Brazil.

The interest from would-be investors ranges from a project of 200,000 mt to as large as 1.5 million mt, with investments estimated at roughly $1,000/mt. Mendoza wants to find an investor that would take a majority stake and operate the mine.

Guinazu said interested parties include mining firms with current fertilizer operations, miners looking to enter the fertilizer business, and non-miners with a presence in Argentina.

Guinazu and top provincial authorities are holding meetings this week in Toronto as part of the conference. UBS Group AG is advising Mendoza in the Rio Colorado process (GM Nov. 12, 2021).

Australia Begins Antidumping Probe of AN from Chile, Lithuania, and Vietnam

Ammonium Nitrate, Chile, News, News Briefs, Vietnam

Australia’s Antidumping Commission on June 8 announced that it has initiated an investigation following an application lodged by CSBP Ltd., Orica Australia Pty Ltd., and Queensland Nitrates Pty Ltd., manufacturers of ammonium nitrate in Australia. The application seeks the publication of a dumping duty notice in respect to ammonium nitrate exported to Australia from Chile, Lithuania, and Vietnam.

The Australian producers allege that the goods have been exported to Australia at prices less than their normal value, and that the dumping has caused material injury to the Australian industry through price suppression and loss of profits and reduced profitability.

The goods subject to the investigation include ammonium nitrate, prilled, granular, or in other solid form, with or without additives or coatings, in packages exceeding 10 kg. The investigation period is April 1, 2021, to March 31, 2022.

Ironically, the three countries – Chile, Lithuania, and Vietnam – stepped up their exports to Australia after Australia placed antidumping duties against three other countries in 2018 – China, Sweden, and Thailand (GM Nov. 16, 2018).

According to the documents submitted by the Australian producers, the combined subject imports grew from 62 mt in 2016 to peak at 95,955 mt in 2020, before declining to 44,502 mt in 2021. By comparison, the cumulated total for China, Sweden, and Thailand peaked in 2018 at 122,022 mt and declined to 260 mt in 2021.

Interested parties may lodge submissions by close of business on July 15, 2022, and exporters are invited to complete an exporter questionnaire and associated spreadsheets.

The Antidumping Commission must make a statement of essential facts (SEF) by Sept. 26, 2022. Interested parties may lodge submissions in response to the SEF within 20 days of the SEF placed on the public record.

A Commission recommendation to the Ministry of Industry, Science, and Technology must be made on or before Nov. 10, 2022, and the Minster must make a declaration within 30 days after receiving the report.

In the meantime, another ammonium nitrate duty case is currently being reinvestigated. Last September, the Antidumping Review Panel requested that the Commission reinvestigate specific findings that formed the basis for the decision of the Minister for Industry, Science, and Technology to discontinue measures relating to exports of ammonium nitrate from Russia (GM Sept. 24, 2021). Australian duties have been in place on Russian AN since 2001.

ICL Inks Five-Year Polysulfate Supply Deal with Indian Potash

India, Israel, News, News Briefs, Polyhalite, Specialty

ICL Group Ltd., Tel Aviv, said it has signed a long-term agreement with Indian Potash Ltd. (IPL) to supply polysulfate through 2026, with a renewal option.

The five-year term is for an aggregate amount of 1 million mt, with quantities increasing for each year of the agreement, ICL said in a June 13 statement announcing the deal.

Each shipment will be a minimum of 25,000 mt and equally distributed across the calendar year, with prices and payment terms to be fixed between IPL and ICL from time to time.

The Israeli company said the availability of polysulfate is expected to help boost the Government of India’s organic agriculture program.

ICL produces polysulfate, the marketed form of polyhalite, at its Boulby mine in northeast England.

Boulby produced 238,000 mt of polysulfate in the first quarter of this year. Output is expected to be relatively stable for the rest of 2022, and to end the year at about 1 million mt of production, ICL President and CEO Raviv Zoller told participants at a company earnings call on May 11 (GM May 13, p. 32).

The CEO told call participants that in order to reach the production targets, the company took down salt production at Boulby by 65,000 mt.

ICL Boulby early this week said it had completed a major maintenance and repair program at the site, involving a range of works in the number two shaft tower. The shaft tower services the 1,100-meter deep shaft which is used to transport men and materials to and from the mine workings.

The work will extend the life of the shaft for around 20 years, said ICL Boulby’s Head of Engineering Grahame Wallace in a June 13 statement.

ICL at the beginning of this year moved the ICL Boulby polysulfate operation from the company’s Potash business segment to its Innovative Ag Solutions (IAS) business segment. This was part of ICL’s consolidation of its specialty agriculture businesses into one segment under the IAS division, and as the company continues to focus on targeting long-term growth through its diversified specialty solutions.

OCI to Triple Import Ammonia Import Capacity at Rotterdam by 2023

Ammonia, Europe, News, News Briefs

OCI NV, Amsterdam, said on June 15 it has made a final investment decision (FID) for the first phase of its ammonia import terminal expansion project in the Port of Rotterdam in the Netherlands.

Throughput capacity initially will be increased from the current around 400,000 mt/y to up to 1.2 million mt/y, and will be achieved through low-cost upgrades to OCI’s existing infrastructure. Completion is expected in 2023.

OCI estimates the total investment cost for the first phase to be below $20 million.

For the second phase, a basic engineering package has been completed for the construction of a new world-scale ammonia tank at the terminal, which, along with a scale-up in jetty infrastructure, will allow a potential increase in throughput to above 3 million mt/y.

OCI plans to start permitting activities this year.

“[The decision to go ahead with] the expansion follows the significant increase in ammonia imports during the past year to compensate for lower European ammonia production due to volatile and high gas prices, which is expected to continue in the medium term,” the company said.

At Green Markets’ press time, OCI was reported to be halting production at one of its two ammonia units in the Netherlands due to spiking natural prices, but will continue downstream production using imported ammonia.

In addition, the expansion will also serve the emerging large-scale demand for low carbon ammonia as a fuel, including from ammonia-fueled vessels, expected to first launch in 2025.

OCI’s announcement comes at a time when the shipping industry is assessing its future fuel requirements. Hamburg-based classification society DNV expects the first ammonia-fueled vessels to hit the water in the second half of this decade, but large-scale uptake of this technology is not expected until the early 2030s.  

But by 2050, DNV believes ammonia will account for some 35% of the shipping fuel mix.

OCI highlighted that its Rotterdam ammonia terminal is strategically located to enable the import of blue and green ammonia from the company’s global operations in the Middle East and North Africa at Fertiglobe and the U.S., connecting the key infrastructure to serve Europe’s future hydrogen deficit.

The company last November reported that it had increased throughput capabilities at the terminal, and had added a fourth dedicated ammonia charter vessel “to enhance its ammonia logistics” (GM Nov. 12, 2021). This, it said, enabled the company to continue downstream production in Europe and to weather volatility in feedstock prices by sourcing “record volumes” of ammonia from Fertiglobe and the U.S. to its Dutch operations.

Azot Severodonetsk Ammonia Plant Damaged by Russian Shelling

Ammonia, News, News Briefs, Russia, Ukraine

Further shelling of Ukrainian nitrogen fertilizer and chemicals plant PJSC Azot Severodonetsk on the evening of June 8 has damaged at least two of the plant’s production units, including the ammonia unit, owner Group DF confirmed in a June 9 statement.

No casualties were reported at the plant, located in Ukraine’s eastern Luhansk region, or in the underground bunkers where more than 500 civilians have been taking shelter and an unspecified number of Ukrainian soldiers are holed up.

Group DF in its June 9 statement also confirmed that no chemical emissions occurred, as all production was halted at the plant and all fertilizers and chemicals removed from the site on the second day of the Russian invasion of Ukraine. The company reported on March 1 that all ammonia had been processed ahead of the production stoppage, and all finished products taken off the premises (GM March 4, p. 28).

However, on June 11, a fire broke out at the plant after a leak of “tens of tonnes” of oil from damaged radiators at the plant, according to a BBC report, citing the regional head Sehiy Haidai speaking on Ukrainian television.

Azot Severodonetsk, which is operated via Group DF’s Ostchem company, had nameplate production capacity for 1.02 million mt/y of ammonia, 60,000 mt/y of aqueous ammonia, 390,000 mt/y of urea, and 550,000 mt/y of ammonium nitrate, according to Ostchem’s website. The plant’s chemicals production capacity includes 190,000 mt/y for methanol and 150,000 mt/y for acetic acid.

The Severodonetsk operation is one of four nitrogen fertilizer and chemical plants operated by Ostchem in Ukraine.

The city of Severodonetsk has become the latest focal point of Russia’s efforts to advance in eastern Ukraine, and has come under heavy shelling. As of late June 16, Ukraine had refused to give in to calls by Russia for Ukrainian forces at the plant to surrender and for civilians to respond to “an offer” of “a safe” humanitarian corridor.

Russian Fertilizer Production Drops 17% Year-Over-Year in April

Ammonia, News, News Briefs, Nitrogen, Phosphate, Potash, Russia

Russian mineral fertilizer production fell 17% year-over-year in April to 1.8 million mt of active ingredient according to Interfax, citing the Russian Federal State Statistics Service (Rosstat).

April’s production was down by similar level on March output.

Potash production in April fell 47.6% year-over-year and 40.4% compared with March, to 0.4 million mt of active ingredient, according to the report.

Both phosphate fertilizer and nitrogen fertilizer production increased year-over-year in April. Phosphate fertilizer output increased 3.8% to 0.4 million mt of active ingredient, but fell 2.3% compared with March.

Nitrogen fertilizer production rose 0.3% to 1 million mt year-over-year in April, but declined 6.5% compared with March. The nitrogen fertilizer data appear to be in product tons.

Ammonia output fell 20.6% year-over-year in April and 13% compared with March, according to the report. Ammonia production totaled 6.2 million mt in the first four months of 2022, down 8.5% year-over-year.