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AgVend Adds Grain Business to Grower Portals

News, News Briefs, Northern Plains

Agricultural e-commerce business AgVend, Minneapolis, Minn., on April 8 announced that it is adding its Grain Business Unit to the Grower Portals ecosystem that the company introduced last year (GM Dec. 11, 2020).

AgVend said the expansion of its Grower Portal product will give cooperatives and grain elevators the ability to provide customers with easy digital access to their grain accounts and current market information. Growers can eSign contracts, review scale tickets in real-time, and monitor cash bids through their local elevator’s AgVend-built mobile app.

“The unique aspect of this launch is that our cooperative partners can now offer their growers a single mobile app to manage their grain, agronomy, and account information,” said Alexander Reichert, Co-founder and CEO of AgVend. “This means growers can see details of a grain contract, purchase products from an agronomic plan, and then pay an invoice with an existing credit line in one session on one platform.”

To complement this initial launch, AgVend said it will complete integrations later this year with the leading offer management systems to provide growers an easy way to submit grain offers and manage settlements through their Grower Portals. AgVend’s Grower Portal is accessible to producers by downloading their ag retailer’s AgVend-built mobile app or by visiting their online portal.

“Similar to what we offer our partners’ sales agronomists, grain merchandisers now have access to their customers’ information through a few clicks on a mobile app,” Reichert said. “Also, because growers have full access to grain markets and their account information, the Grower Portal cuts down on common grower questions, such as scale ticket status and executed grain contracts.”

The company said it will continue to build its Grower Portals platform by adding its Energy and Feed Business Unites later this year. “The design of our Grower Portals is to make it easier for producers at our partner retailers to do business where, when, and how they want, 24/7,” Reichert said. “The launch of grain and the subsequent business units will ensure that this extends across their entire operation.”

AgVend reported last August (GM Aug. 28, 2020) that it would be sunsetting its initial product, the AgVend.com Marketplace, which allowed farmers to purchase crop production inputs and services online from ag retailers in their own community. The company said it would focus instead on its AgVend-Powered Grower Portals, a white-label product line introduced in April 2020 that allows a more direct connection between growers and their preferred retailer.

Toxic Cloud Linked to Fertilizer Plant in Toronto

Canada, News, News Briefs

A portion of Highway 400 in Toronto, Ont., was closed on April 14 after a chemical spill and reaction at a fertilizer plant released an orange cloud of toxic smoke. No injuries were reported, but occupants of the plant and nearby buildings were evacuated for several hours as emergency responders declared a level 3 HAZMAT situation..

Initial reports said the incident occurred at an aluminum plant, but fire officials later clarified the location as an industrial fertilizer factory. The name of the fertilizer facility was not revealed. Toronto firefighters and other emergency personnel responded at about 10:50 a.m., but refrained from using water for fear of exacerbating the reaction.

The reaction and cloud were allowed to dissipate on their own. Road closures lasted for nearly an hour, with most reopened at about 12:35 p.m.

TFI Announces Updates to Nutrient Use Tools

News, News Briefs, U.S.

The Fertilizer Institute (TFI) on April 14 announced two new updates to crop nutrient use tools that provide the fertilizer industry and agronomic professionals with scientifically-backed data to better track nutrient use and nutrient balances across the U.S.

The Nutrient Use Geographic Information System (NuGIS) and the Soil Test Summary are an index of performance, both agronomic and environmental, indicating how well a cropping system uses crop nutrients. TFI said the two platforms can help provide an estimate of nutrient deficiencies and nutrients susceptible to loss, providing the fertilizer industry, farmers, and scientific stakeholders with insight into improving nutrient use efficiency and nutrient balance.

“The fertilizer industry relies on accurate data to make strategic business decisions,” said Corey Rosenbusch, TFI President and CEO. “Using data from the NuGIS and Soil Test Summary platforms, TFI is uniquely positioned to collaborate with partners and soil testing labs to aggregate and analyze this information for our members and stakeholders.”

NuGIS provides county- and watershed-level estimates of nutrients applied to the soil from fertilizer and livestock manure, and nutrients removed by harvested agricultural crops. Nutrient application data comes from fertilizer sales data collected by the American Association of Plant Food Control Officials (AAPFCO) and USDA livestock sales, which are used to estimate manure application. Nutrient removal data is calculated using USDA annual yield data.

TFI said NuGIS is a unique data set showing nutrient use efficiency and the nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium balance in cropland across the nation. The tool’s maps and charts show distribution of nutrient concentrations, allowing for the determination of where nutrients are either being mined or building up in agricultural production fields.

The Soil Test Summary is an interactive tool for displaying aggregate soil nutrient levels from public and private soil test labs by state from June 2019 through July 2020. Both NuGIS and the Soil Test Summary are collaborations between TFI, the Foundation for Agronomic Research, and Plant Nutrition Canada, and are part of a broader collection of agronomic materials made available to the fertilizer industry and the agronomic community by TFI.

Compass Updates 1Q Snow Data and Salt Sales

Earnings, News, Southern Plains

Compass Minerals, Overland Park, Kan., on April 12 reported below-average winter weather activity for the first quarter, with 11 cities in its North American highway deicing service reporting 100 snow events during the first quarter, roughly 8 percent below the 10-year average, but 18 percent above first-quarter 2020 results.

Compass said it sold approximately 4.6 million tons of highway deicing salt products in the first quarter of 2021, compared to 3.1 million tons in the prior-year period. This total includes all highway maintenance products sold in the U.S., Canada, and the U.K., as well as rock salt sold to the chemical industry. Sales of all salt products totaled roughly 5.0 million tons in the 2021 period, compared with 3.6 million tons in the first quarter of 2020.

“Despite below-average snow activity for the first quarter, we experienced solid demand from our U.S. highway deicing customer portfolio as a number of ice storms impacted our markets in addition to the snow event activity in the first quarter,” said Kevin S. Crutchfield, President and CEO. “We expect this healthy start to the year likely normalized customer inventories throughout North America, setting up a constructive backdrop for the upcoming bid season. Comparatively, this represents the highest first-quarter sales volumes for our highway deicing products since 2014.”

The company said it also achieved other milestones in recent weeks, including two announced definitive sale agreements to optimize its asset portfolio, and the successful negotiation of a new, five-year collective bargaining agreement at its Goderich mine. “Through these strategic actions, I believe we are building positive momentum as we head into the remainder of 2021,” Crutchfield said.

Unigel Starts Production at Former Petrobras Site

Ammonia, Ammonium Sulfate, Brazil, Featured, News, Nitrogen, Urea

Brazil’s Unigel Group confirmed that it has launched production at one of two nitrogen fertilizer plants acquired from Petrobras last year. Unigel, through its wholly-owned Proquigel Química subsidiary, secured full possession of the leases of Petrobras’ nitrogen fertilizer plants in Bahia (Fafen-BA) and Sergipe (Fafen-SE) in August (GM Aug. 14, 2020).

Unigel Commercial Director Wendell Souza confirmed that the Sergipe factory launched production in early April after a period of general maintenance and commissioning. He said ammonia production at the site is already stabilized, while the urea lines are still under final refinements.

Unigel Group CEO Roberto Noronha Santos indicated at the time of the completion of the leasing process that the reactivation of the two units was expected to occur in January 2021. More recently, the company reported that it planned to start urea production in February (GM Jan. 29, p. 1).

Unigel earlier reported that it expects to be the largest producer of ammonia and urea in Brazil in 2021, according to a statement by New York City-based international law firm Simpson Thacher. Unigel is also Brazil’s largest national producer of ammonium sulfate, with one 400,000 mt/y production site.

Fafen-BA has an installed urea production capacity of 1,300 mt/d, with the ability to sell ammonia, carbon dioxide, and automotive liquid reducing agent (Arla 32). The Sergipe unit has an installed urea production capacity of 1,800 mt/d, and can sell ammonia, carbon dioxide, and ammonium sulfate.

Grupa Azoty Profits Decline; Fertilizer/Ag Called Resilient

Earnings, News, Poland, Urea

Polish chemicals and fertilizer group Grupa Azoty SA, Tarnów, reported full-year 2020 net profit of Pln355 million (approximately $93.2 million at current exchange rates), 13 percent down on the year and in line with its preliminary estimate at the start of April (GM April 2, p. 27). Consolidated revenues were down 7 percent, to Pln10.5 billion, and also in line with the company’s preliminary estimate. Full-year EBITDA came in at Pln1.3 billion, also down 7 percent year-over-year.

Azoty said the pandemic outbreak during 2020 posed some “major challenges,” but its financial performance was supported by “sustained demand” in the group’s key business segment Fertilisers/Agro, its biggest business division, according to an April 15 company statement.

“The agricultural sector proved resilient to the headwinds, with increased sales volumes achieved,” said Azoty. “Fertilisers/Agro accounted for 60 percent of the group’s total revenue and 62 percent of the EBITDA margin of 12.6 percent in FY2020.”

Fertilisers/Agro generated full-year revenue of Pln6.36 billion, a 5 percent decline on the previous year’s Pln6.72 billion.

Azoty said it stepped up efforts during 2020 to roll out products compliant with the requirements of the European “Green Deal.” An example of this was “Pulurea+INur.,” a urea fertilizer treated with a urease inhibitor, which is the group’s response to the European Union’s National Emissions Reductions Commitments (NEC) Directive requirements to reduce ammonia emissions into the atmosphere.

The Polish group highlighted that although the use of urea with inhibitors will only become obligatory in Poland beginning Aug. 1, 2021, the product already has been available from the group for several months.

Azoty also operates Chemicals and Plastics business segments.

Germany’s Uniper Plans Hydrogen Hub, Green NH3 Import Terminal

Germany, Green Ammonia, Hydrogen, News, News Briefs

German utility firm Uniper Energy, Düsseldorf, plans to establish a German national hub for hydrogen in Wilhelmshaven, which will include an import terminal for green ammonia, and is working on a corresponding feasibility study. The company said it has now dropped a plan for a floating LNG terminal in the port.

Commissioning of the new terminal is planned for the second half of this decade, depending on national import demand and export opportunities, Uniper said on April 14, announcing the project.

Under the plans, the terminal will be equipped with an ammonia cracker for producing green hydrogen, and it will also be connected to the planned hydrogen network.

A 410 MW electrolysis plant is also proposed, which – in combination with the import terminal – would be capable of supplying around 295,000 mt, or 10 percent of the demand expected for the whole of Germany in 2030.

Uniper said the generated hydrogen will primarily be used to supply local industry, but it will also be possible to feed it into the national hydrogen network.

“It is essential that Germany and Europe remain industrial powerhouses: if we want to achieve this and still hit our ambitious climate protection targets, we need hydrogen to power sectors such as steel production, the chemicals industry or in freight, shipping and air transport,” said Uniper Chief Operating Officer David Bryson.

“We need to get hydrogen out of the laboratory and start using it in large-scale applications and marketable industrial solutions. One way of achieving this is to import green ammonia and convert it into hydrogen, which is something we are looking at for Wilhelmshaven,” he said.

Currently, Germany plans to generate 14 TWh of green hydrogen in 2030, but the demand for that year is forecast to be 90-100 TWh, according to Uniper.

“The discrepancy between these two figures is abundantly clear. We will be heavily dependent on imports if we want to use hydrogen to achieve our climate goals,” Bryson said.

The “Green Wilhelmshaven,” with its combination of hydrogen import and production, is one of the projects Uniper is proposing to create a common European hydrogen market, and was submitted to the German Federal Ministry of Economics a few weeks ago.

MHI Buys Stake in Colorado’s Starfire Energy to Enter Green Ammonia Market

Green Ammonia, Hydrogen, Japan, News, News Briefs

Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Ltd. (MHI), Tokyo, has invested in Denver-based Starfire Energy Inc., a developer of modular chemical plants for the production of green ammonia and hydrogen with a patented catalyst technology.

In separate statements announcing the investment, MHI and Starfire Energy said the partnership will be used to advance the development of commercial scale applications to decarbonize ammonia production and unlock the potential as a zero-carbon energy carrier.

MHI’s investment was executed through Mitsubishi Heavy Industries America Inc., joining a consortium of investors, including AP Ventures, Chevron Technology Ventures, New Energy Technologies, and Osaka Gas USA. The Japanese company did not disclose the value of its investment.

Starfire Energy’s “Rapid Ramp NH3” ammonia synthesis technology produces zero-carbon ammonia using only renewable energy, air, and water as inputs. The modular solution is sized to connect directly with renewable energy production, providing a scalable, distributed source of zero-carbon ammonia.

The Denver company has also developed its “Prometheus Carbon-free Fire,” a system to crack ammonia back into hydrogen, providing an efficient means of green hydrogen storage and transportation.

EuroChem Expects 44 Percent Capex Increase

Ammonia, Earnings, News, Potash, Russia, Urea

EuroChem Group AG expects to increase investment this year to about RUB130 billion (approximately $1.7 billion at current exchange rates), up from RUB90 billion in 2020, according to an Interfax report, citing company CEO Vladimir Rashevsky.

Rashevsky said even with a difficult year as a result of the COVID pandemic, the group did not halt single major investment project last year, which makes it possible, amid a backdrop of an economic revival, he said, for EuroChem to be ramping up investment and new projects in 2021.

According to its FY2020 IFRS financial statements, EuroChem increased capital expenditure by 23 percent, to US$1.2 billion in 2020, on the decision to proceed with the EuroChem North West 2 project, a new facility for the annual production of 1.1 mt/y of ammonia and 1.4 mt/y of urea (GM Feb. 12, p. 1).

Maintenance capex amounted to 28 percent of the FY2020 total, with the rest allocated to key expansion projects: EuroChem North West 2 and the Usolskiy and VolgaKaliy potash plants.

FCL Buys True North’s Biofuels Assets in Canada

News, News Briefs, Saskatchewan

Federated Co-operatives Limited (FCL) on April 9 announced that it has acquired the assets of True North Renewable Fuels, which was recently awarded a C$1 million grant from Regina, Sask., to study a proposed a biodiesel plant in the city. FCL said the purchase highlights its commitment to renewable fuels as a critical component of FCL’s strategy to address climate change.

“We are excited about the purchase of True North Renewable Fuels assets as it is another important step we have taken toward a sustainable future,” said Scott Banda, CEO of FCL. “Our company is committed to implementing sustainable solutions that ensure our co-op system remains competitive. Energy and transportation fuel sources are going to change, and this purchase demonstrates that we are positioning our co-op to meet the challenges of the changes that lie ahead.”

At a Regina City Council meeting last month, officials told council members that the proposed biodiesel plant would not be operational until 2025. Douglas Cole, CEO of True North, said the idea of biofuel production is a concept he has been working on for four years.

“I am confident that FCL has the resources and operational knowledge to fully assess producing biofuel,” Cole said. “In FCL, I believe we have found the right company to ensure the project comes to fruition. The concept is in good hands.”

FCL said the True North acquisition is one of several recent steps the company has taken to address the environmental impact of its facilities. These include FCL’s acquisition of the Terra Grain Fuels ethanol production facility in Belle Plaine, Sask., which FCL rebranded on April 1 as the Co-op Ethanol Complex. FCL also recently announced the addition of new electric vehicle charging stations in 12 communities across the Prairies. FCL also began a C$80 million turnaround on April 5 at its Co-op Refinery Complex in Regina.