All posts by mickeybarb@charter.net

Co-Alliance Cooperative – Management Brief

Eastern Cornbelt, Management Briefs

Co-Alliance Cooperative, an agriculture and energy co-op based in Avon, Ind., has named 19 directors representing eight districts in Indiana, Ohio, Illinois, and Michigan. Board officers include Tim Burke, Chairman, District 8, Monticello, Ind.; Bill Peters, Vice Chair, District 5, Sharpsville, Ind.; Tom Tucker, Secretary, District 2, Fountaintown, Ind.; and Jeremy Mills, Assistant Secretary/Assistant Treasurer, District 4, Indianapolis, Ind.

Remaining directors include: District 1 Brian Becker, Middletown, Ind., and Rendell Miller, Decatur, Ind.; District 2 Bob Newhouse, Rushville, Ind.; District 3 Gene Tapalman, West Alexandria, Ohio, and Scott Sease, Laura, Ohio; District 4 Greg Gore, Monrovia, Ind., Kim Ames, Fillmore, Ind., and Jason Summers, North Salem, Ind.; District 5 Gregg Alexander, Kempton, Ind., and Brian Presnall, Fairmount, Ind.; District 6 Dave High, Decatur, Mich., and Jerry Werner, Union Mills, Ind.; District 7 Allen Mohler, Lebanon, Ind., and Gary Hendrix, Jamestown, Ind.; and District 8 Chris Wiese, Reynolds, Ind.

Directors are elected to four-year terms by the shareholders in their district. Co-Alliance completed a merger with Harvest Land Cooperative in Richmond, Ind., on Feb. 1 (GM Jan. 29, p. 1). Co-Alliance has more than 900 employees and 90 locations, and generates $1 billion in annual sales.

Sylvite Opens Blacks Lane Fertilizer Tower in Ontario

Canada, News, News Briefs

Sylvite Holdings Inc., Burlington, Ont., reported on April 6 that its Blacks Lane fertilizer tower in Rodney, Ont., is now fully operational. The new fully automated tower has a holding capacity of 150 mt and includes 14 bins, which will allow for short mix times and the precision blending of multiple products, including specialty fertilizers.

“4R Nutrient Stewardship is very important to our business, and this new tower has the capabilities to blend fertilizers to customer specifications in less than 90 seconds, and is designed to support the 4Rs,” the company said in a statement. “With the busy spring season just around the corner, at Sylvite we know it is important to reinvest in our business and capabilities to ensure we are offering our customers and partners top-of-the-line options and support for their business.”

Sylvite said the Black Lanes fertilizer tower will also have an impregnation system that will allow the company to directly apply nitrogen and phosphorous stabilizers and micronutrients directly onto the fertilizer.

The Blacks Lane terminal is one of 15 Sylvite Agri-Service Ltd. locations in southwestern Ontario. Sylvite is the largest Canadian-owned, independent wholesaler and retailer of farm fertilizer in Ontario. The company has more than 400 employees across business divisions that include agriculture, transportation, industrial chemicals, and wholesale/retail fertilizer sales.

Montana Temporarily Suspends HOS Requirements

News, News Briefs, Pacific N.W.

Montana Gov. Greg Gianforte on March 26 issued an executive order that temporarily suspends Hours of Service (HOS) regulations for certain carriers to facilitate and expedite the delivery of anhydrous ammonia and other fertilizer to Montana’s farmers. The temporary suspension is in effect from April 1 to June 6, 2021.

The EO states that Montana farmers regularly face a compressed spring planting season and a narrow application window due to late snowfalls and wet conditions, unpaved roads, and long distances from ag retail facilities to the farm. The order also notes that fertilizer delivery drivers are designated as essential critical infrastructure workers by the Department of Homeland Security.

“Waiving hours of service requirements ensures that fertilizer haulers can meet the needs of the industry by delivering greater volumes in a short timeframe. We need to do everything we can so Montana farmers can get in the field to plant and produce their crops when they need to,” Gianforte said. “Limiting access to necessary inputs threatens their effective, timely planting. Today’s executive action halts regulations so our farmers can receive needed fertilizer without unnecessary delay.”

Kore Potash plc – Management Brief

Africa, Australia, News, News Briefs, Potash, Specialty

Australian potash junior Kore Potash plc, which has 97 percent-ownership of the Kola and DX potash projects in the Republic of Congo, on April 1 announced the appointment of Sameer Oundhakar, 47, as a Non-Executive Director of the company nominated by the Oman Investment Authority (OIA), effective April 1, 2021. OIA (formerly known as the State General Reserve Fund of Oman) has been a shareholder in Kore Potash since 2016 (GM Sept. 1, 2016).

Oundhakar replaces Tim Keating, who resigned from the board effective April 1.

Oundhakar joined OIA in 2018 and currently holds the position of Senior Manager – Diversified Private Equity Investments.

Incitec Pivot Now Expects Waggaman Ammonia Restart by Mid-April

Ammonia, Ammonium Nitrate, Australia, Featured, News, South Central

Incitec Pivot Ltd. (IPL), Southbank, Victoria, now expects its Waggaman, La., ammonia plant to restart production by mid-April, according to a company statement on April 6. Waggaman has a nameplate capacity of 800,000 mt/y of ammonia.

The company as of mid-February had expected operations to restart by mid-March following the first planned turnaround since the plant was commissioned in 2016 (GM Feb 19, p. 33).

IPL said mechanical completion of the turnaround was completed on March 6, followed by start-up activity. But the facility was brought down on March 17 as a result of a dry gas seal failure and vibrations in the turbine on the induced draft fan, the company said.

Additional investigations into the root causes of both issues have been completed, and repairs are currently underway.

Based on the current work plan, IPL sees the further delay to the Waggaman start-up hitting FY2021, ending Sept. 30, earnings before interest and tax (EBIT) by A$36 million (or A$28 million on a net profit after tax basis), with A$15 million of that hit occurring in the first fiscal half and A$21 million in the second half.

The cost of the turnaround has been finalized at A$80 million (approximately US$61 million at current exchange rates), which will be depreciated over a four-year period. The impact of the depreciation has been incorporated in FY2021 earnings updates.

Shares in IPL fell as much as 14 percent, the most since March 2020, after the company said it expected the delayed restart of the Waggaman plant to hit FY2021 EBIT.

While IPL expects the repairs to Waggaman’s ammonia cooler (heat exchanger) to restart “at full production rates,” it said a replacement cooler is likely to be required in the next 12-24 months. An outage of up to three weeks is consequently expected in FY2022 or FY2023 to allow installation of the new cooler.

IPL explained that subsequent metallurgical analysis of the ammonia cooler following repairs revealed that “poor workmanship” of the original fabricated metal would likely prevent the repair from lasting until the next scheduled turnaround.

It reported that in other respects, the company’s business performance remains in line with the update provided on Feb. 15. The company further confirmed that the Dyno Nobel Americas Explosives’ Louisiana, Mo., ammonium nitrate (AN) plant has returned to service as planned, and the Cheyenne, Wyo., AN plant continues to operate after recent outages. Preparations for the second planned turnaround of the Moranbah, Queensland, AN plant starting in May also remain on track.

IPL will release its first-half FY2021 results on May 17.

E.U. Renewal of AD Duties on Russian AN Driving Up Fert Prices, Says Farmer Group

Ammonium Nitrate, Europe, News, News Briefs, Russia, Specialty, United Kingdom

The Irish Farmers’ Association (IFA) believes that the European Commission’s decision in December to prolong antidumping tariffs on ammonium nitrate (AN) from Russia for another five years has contributed to the recent hike in the price of nitrogen fertilizers.

In an April 1 statement on the association’s website, IFA Farm Business and Inputs Chairperson Rose Mary McDonagh said the Commission had chosen to protect the profitability of European fertilizer producers while farmers face higher input costs.

“Irish and European farmers are paying over the odds for fertilizer. The European Commission is undermining the competitiveness of E.U. agriculture and destroying farmers’ incomes by enabling a dysfunctional fertilizer market in the E.U.,” she said.

McDonagh highlighted that in January, merchants were selling SulCAN at €205-€220/mt, while this week prices are up at €240-€270/mt.

IFA has persistently campaigned for a fairer market for fertilizers along with its colleagues in Brussels-based COPA-COGECA, Europe’s biggest interest group for European farmers, by opposing the renewal of anti-dumping measures that IFA believes “prevent the operation of a fair and transparent market.”

“Our highest cost is nitrogen, but fertilizer prices are artificially high, and farmers have no say in the matter,” she said. “The Commission has to listen to farmers and recognize the negative economic impact on the users of fertilizers.”

The E.U. last December opted to continue its quarter-century-old antidumping measures on AN originating from Russia, following a 15-month investigation launched in September 2019 (GM Dec. 18, 2020; Sept. 27, 2019). The decision to renew trade protection came despite the objections from E.U. farmers opposed to the import curbs.

The E.U. reimposed tariffs as high as €32.71/mt (approximately $38.80/mt at current exchange rates). The Commission found in favor of keeping the trade measures in place, as its probe had found there is likely continuation of dumping and injury. Under the World Trade Organization/E.U. “sunset” review rules, the measures are allowed to continue for up to another five years.

IFA President Tim Cullinan believes the extension of the antidumping measures will cost European farmers up to €3 billion in additional costs (AN and CAN fertilizer).

Tatarstan’s Ammoni Plans New Ammonia/Urea Capacity

Ammonia, News, News Briefs, Russia, Urea

Tatarstan Republic-based nitrogen fertilizer and methanol producer JSC Ammoni is looking to build a new ammonia and urea production facility. Ammoni set up a subsidiary Ammoni 2 LLC in March to act as the operator for the new production facility, according to an Interfax report last week, citing a spokesperson for JSC Ammoni.

The Ammoni 2 project will include an ammonia plant with 3,500 mt/d of production capacity or annual capacity of 1.3 million mt/y, and a granular urea production facility with 4,200 mt/d capacity or annual capacity of 1.5 million mt/y.

Construction is expected to begin at the end of this year or the start of 2022, with operations start-up targeted for 2026, according to the report. A feasibility study is now underway.

Mendeleevsk-based Ammoni, located approximately 1,000 km east of Moscow, currently has nameplate capacity of 715,000 mt/y of ammonia without methanol production, or 487,300 mt/y of ammonia with integrated production (and 233,800 mt/y of methanol), 717,500 mt /y capacity of granular urea, and 380,000 mt/y of ammonium nitrate, according to the company’s website.

The company came under new ownership in July last year, when its biggest creditor and 22.8 percent shareholder, Russian state development bank corporation VEB.RF, closed a deal to sell 100 percent of the company to Russian fertilizer and chemicals producer Kemerovo Azot (GM July 24, 2020).

Kemerovo Azot is part of Russian nitrogen fertilizer and industrial products manufacturer SDS-Azot, which is owned by Russian businessman Roman Trotsenko, and whose other fertilizer assets include Russia’s Angarask Nitrogen Fertilizer Plant.

OCP Uses Blockchain for $400 M Intra-African Fertilizer Deal

Africa, Morocco, News, News Briefs, Phosphate

OCP Group SA, Casablanca, and Burundi-based Eastern and Southern African Trade Development Bank (TDB) have executed nearly $400 million-worth of fertilizer trade finance transactions via blockchain technology, said the Moroccan fertilizers group in a statement late last month.

OCP said $270 million already have been completed, and the remainder will be executed in the coming months.

These transactions make the Moroccan fertilizers group the first African company to execute an intra-African trade transaction using blockchain. Through Singapore-based dltledgers’ blockchain, OCP said it delivered “several thousand tons” of phosphate fertilizers from Morocco to Ethiopia.

The intra-African transaction initiative is part of the company’s digitalization strategy and aims to reduce the trade finance gap in Africa and boost trade between African countries, particularly in the fertilizer sector, through digital inclusion, the Moroccan group said.

“dtledgers’ blockchain technology makes it possible for all parties to carry out these import-export trades digitally and in under two hours,” said OCP. “Traditional transactions typically take over three weeks to complete due to the need to move physical documents from suppliers, through the banking system, to the buyer.”

The group said this lengthy process was disrupted further by the COVID-19 pandemic, taking up to six-weeks to complete, as border and airport closures continue to create additional delays.

TDB, part of the TDB Group, has supported close to $1 billion of fertilizer imports from OCP to Ethiopia in the past three years, according to the Moroccan phosphates group.

Acron Extends Oleniy Ruchey Open-Pit Mine Life to 2025

News, News Briefs, Russia

Acron Group, Moscow, said it can now continue open-pit mining of apatite-nepheline at the Oleniy Ruchey deposit in Russia’s Murmansk region for two years longer than originally expected following a detailed geological exploration.

The mine, which is operated by Acron’s North-Western Phosphorous Co. (NWPC) subsidiary, had been set to close in 2023. However, its operating life will now be extended to 2025.

The mining extension follows a detailed exploration of the open pit’s southwestern side by NWPC geologists, and will result in an additional 2 million mt of apatite-nepheline ore being mined from the open pit’s southwestern side, Acron said.

The Russian group reported the Oleniy Ruchey open-pit mine set a new production record last month of 770,000 mt, with over 1 million mt of apatite-nepheline ore currently stockpiled in the storage area for further processing.

NWPC produced its first apatite concentrate in 2012, using ore produced from the mine.

The subsidiary operates an adjacent underground apatite-nepheline mine. Ore extraction began there in autumn 2017, but Acron has previously reported the ore from the underground operation contains less phosphorus than the ore from the open-pit mine at this stage of the underground mine’s development.

Petrokemija Reports Completion of Liquidation Procedure of Serbian Unit

Europe, News, News Briefs

Croatian fertiliser producer Petrokemija dd reported that the Serbian Business Registers Agency has completed the procedure for liquidation of its Serbian unit Petrokemija doo Novi Sad.

The liquidation procedure was completed on April 1, the company said in a bourse filing last week.

Petrokemija initiated the procedure for liquidation of its Serbian unit in July 2019.