Junior potash developer Karnalyte Resources Inc. announced Aug. 2 the cessation of negotiations with Gujarat State Fertilizers and Chemicals Ltd. (GSFC) in respect of the proposed US$700 million financing for Phase I of the company’s potash mine at Wynyard, Sask. The company said the two have been unable to reach an agreement on certain fundamental terms, including governance matters and the terms upon which Karnalyte’s secondary minerals, including magnesium, will be developed in a separate entity to allow current Karnalyte shareholders to benefit from these currently untapped assets.

Karnalyte said the framework agreement dated February 2016 terminates Sept. 30, 2016. As a result, GSFC will lose one of its three seats on Karnalyte’s board of directors. In other news, Karnalyte also announces that Julius Brinkman, vice president of capital markets, ceased to be engaged by Karnalyte, effective July 29, 2016.

Intrepid Potash Inc. reported a second-quarter loss of $13.4 million ($0.18 per dilute share) on sales of $51.8 million, down from the year-ago loss of $4.9 million ($0.07 per share) and $73.6 million, respectively.

Actual potash sales volumes were up during the quarter to 168,000 st from the year-ago 147,000, however, the average net realized sales price dropped to $193/st from $358/st.

“We continue to be impacted by nutrient pricing uncertainty and the ongoing global oversupply of potash products, which pressured our sales and margins in the second quarter,” said Bob Jornayvaz, Intrepid executive chairman, president and CEO. “With the placement of our West facility into care-and-maintenance mode in July and the better-than-anticipated ramp up of Trio^® production at our East facility during the second quarter, we believe we are making progress towards lowering our cost profile and optimizing our specialty product production. While it will take time for the impact of these operational changes to be fully realized in our financial results and our sales volumes, we remain focused on the long-term potential of these changes.”

“We have made good progress and continue to work towards a final resolution of the debt covenant issues that we have been experiencing,” he added. “We are grateful for the diligence and thoughtfulness our creditors have demonstrated in the negotiations this far and ask for patience from investors as we endeavor to memorialize the previously announced agreements in principle.”

The Mosaic Co. reported a second quarter 2016 net loss of $10 million, down from net earnings of $391 million in the second quarter of 2015. Results in the quarter included after-tax charges of $69 million related to actions the company has taken to lower spending on capital projects and reduce expenses. Net loss per share was $0.03 and included a negative impact of $0.09 from notable items.

Mosaic’s net sales in the second quarter of 2016 were $1.7 billion, down from $2.5 billion last year, reflecting lower potash and phosphate prices and lower sales volumes.

“We are taking the necessary actions to ensure Mosaic remains competitive across all points of the business cycle,” said Joc O’Rourke, president and CEO. “While the environment is challenging, we see signs of stabilization in the second half of the year, with fertilizer prices bottoming and solid demand for our products. At the same time, we are taking action to preserve cash and reduce operating expenses, and believe Mosaic is well positioned to outperform in better markets.”

CVR Partners LP reported a second-quarter loss of $17 million ($0.15 per diluted common unit) on net sales of $119.8 million, compared to the year-ago net income of $27 million ($0.37 per unit) on net sales of $80.8 million.

Negatively impacting 2016 second quarter results were approximately $6.6 million of expenses associated with a major scheduled plant turnaround at the East Dubuque fertilizer facility. Additional items included a $5.1 million loss on extinguishment of debt and a net charge of $13 million associated with inventory valuation and deferred revenue purchase price accounting adjustments related to CVR Partners’ acquisition of Rentech Nitrogen Partners LP.

Potash Corp. of Saskatchewan Inc. reported a 71 percent drop in second-quarter earnings to $121 million ($0.14 per diluted share) on sales of $1.05 billion, down from the year-ago $417 million ($0.50 per share) and $1.73 billion.

The company said it intends to cut its quarterly dividend by 60 percent to $0.10 per share.

Full-year guidance has been lowered to $0.40-$0.55 per share down from the earlier guidance of $0.60-$0.80 per share. Third-quarter guidance is $0.05-$0.10 per share.

PotashCorp President and CEO Jochen Tilk said while fertilizer markets have been under pressure for six months, recovery is beginning. The company said Canpotex has reached agreements with customers in India for shipments over the next three months and deliveries are expected to begin in the weeks ahead. In India, PotashCorp anticipates that an improved monsoon and lower farm retail prices will support improved potash consumption for the rest of the year, but due to weaker first-half deliveries, it has lowered 2016 shipment estimates to a range of 3.7-4.2 million mt.

On China, he said contract negotiations continue, but that Canpotex expects to deliver tonnage to China in the second half. PotashCorp expects recently settled contracts and strong underlying consumption to support 2016 shipments in the range of 13.5-14.5 million mt, consistent with previous estimates, but below 2015’s record levels.

Federated Co-operatives Ltd. (FCL), Saskatoon, is investing C$75 million to build two new state-of-the-art, high-throughput fertilizer terminals in Western Canada. Construction on the two terminals recently began at sites outside Hanley, Sask., and Brandon, Man. These facilities, which are expected to be fully operational in early 2017, will warehouse, blend and distribute a full suite of crop nutrition products throughout the Co-operative Retailing System (CRS). The Hanley terminal will be able to store up to 45,000 mt of fertilizer while the Brandon terminal will hold 27,500 mt.

The Tampa anhydrous ammonia price for August has closed at $270/mt CFR, down $15/mt from July’s $285/mt CFR. Sources had been predicting at least a $10-$15/mt drop, citing lower international pricing and the end of the U.S. spring season.

LSB Industries Inc. said today that due to an intense lightning storm, its El Dorado, Ark., facility, suffered a complete power outage July 14, 2016, which caused production to be halted. Subsequent restart activities indicated that normal operating parameters had been affected from the outage and repairs were required. Adjustments to El Dorado’s ammonia plant synthesis loop are currently being made and the company expects to restore ammonia production at nameplate capacity during the first week of August.

In addition, LSB said it is undertaking necessary warranty repairs and modifications on its nitric acid plant at El Dorado during the seasonally slow period. The modifications and repairs on heat exchangers and NOX abatement systems are being done to increase efficiency and extend service life. The company expects to complete the activities at the nitric acid plant in late August. Customer shipments are not expected to be interrupted as the facility has a secondary nitric acid plant and the Pryor, Cherokee and Baytown facilities are able to provide required shipments to customers if necessary.

Israel Chemicals Ltd. (ICL) said today that it has signed several contracts to supply an aggregate 700,000 mt of potash to its customers in China. The agreements also include options to purchase additional quantities. The contracts are for delivery during 2016. The selling prices stipulated in the contracts are in line with the recent contract prices in China. The contracts are part of three-year framework agreements between ICL and its Chinese customers. ICL has also agreed to sell potash to India at prices recently negotiated by Belarusian Potash Co.

The BPC-China price was $219/mt CFR. To date, major suppliers, Canpotex and Uralkali have not signed on to sell product to China or India.

Compass Minerals reported a 52 percent drop in second-quarter net income to $6.3 million ($0.18 per diluted share) on sales of $169.5 million from the year-ago $13.2 million ($0.39 per share) and $183.7 million, respectively.

Improved results in the company’s Salt section, somewhat offset a 72 percent decrease in operating earnings in the Plant Nutrition segment where operating earnings were $4.7 million, down from the year-ago $16.8 million.

The average quarterly fertilizer sales price dropped to $651/st from $756/st, while volumes were 74,000 st, down from 85,000 st. Compass announced that it instituted an average $30/st price decrease for SOP products effective July 1, 2016.

Citing current SOP and highway deicing markets, Compass reduced its full-year EPS guidance to $2.60-$2.90 from $3.25-$3.65.