Koch Turf & Ornamental, a brand supported by Koch Agronomic Services LLC, selected Harrell’s as the nationwide distributor for Polyon® controlled-release fertilizer in professional markets in the United States, effective May 1, 2016. Harrell’s has previously acted as the sole distributor of Polyon® fertilizer in professional markets in the Eastern United States.

“Harrell’s has a strong track record of supporting the Polyon® fertilizer brand,” said Tim Sturm, vice president of Koch Turf & Ornamental. “They bring a market presence and strategic focus that will drive continued growth and market expansion of Polyon® fertilizer across the US providing real solutions for our turf and ornamental customers.”

“We’re very excited that Koch has selected us as the nationwide distributor for Polyon® fertilizer products,” said Jack Harrell Jr., CEO of Harrell’s. “We’ve had nationwide distribution capabilities for several years, and have been a regional distributor of Polyon® fertilizers since 1992. We know the product very well.”

Polyon® controlled-release fertilizer is a market leader in the turf and ornamental space.

The Canadian Competition Bureau has announced a consent agreement in Crop Production Services (Canada) Inc.’s proposed purchase of WendlandAg Services Ltd.’s six agri‑product retail stores in Saskatchewan, in which the agency is requiring some adjustments due to competition concerns. CPS is a unit of Agrium Inc.

CPS is proposing to buy substantially all the assets of Wendland associated with its six agri‑product retail stores in Saskatchewan located in Domremy, Rosthern, Waldheim, Blaine Lake, Delmas, and Cut Knife, as well as an administrative office in Saskatoon.

CPS and Wendland both operate retail stores in Saskatchewan that sell crop inputs to farmers including urea and anhydrous ammonia, as well as seeds, crop protection products, and other fertilizers.

Under the terms of the consent agreement, CPS must divest the Wendland agri‑product retail location in Rosthern, Sask. and CPS‑owned anhydrous ammonia tanks located in Leask and Hoey, Sask. CPS has also agreed to supply anhydrous ammonia to any purchaser of the divested assets for up to two years at prices not to exceed those charged to its retail outlets in Saskatchewan, at purchaser’s option.

Indian Potash Ltd., India’s largest potash buyer, citing forecasts for the an improved 2016 monsoon, indicated today that potash imports may jump 29 percent this year to 4.2 million mt. IPL Managing Director P.S. Gahlaut had the upbeat news in an interview today, according to Bloomberg.

Gahlaut said Indian buyers, however, will be looking for a price cut, as a strong dollar makes imports more expensive. He said buyers will likely begin talks with suppliers in June, and he expects China to finalize its contracts by the end of May.

Potash Corp. of Saskatchewan Inc. reported an 80 percent drop in net income from year-ago levels. First-quarter earnings were $75 million ($0.09 per diluted share), which included notable charges of $52 million, of which $0.03 was for non-cash charges in the Phosphate segment and $0.03 related to New Brunswick severance charges. Year-ago income was $370 million ($0.45 per share).

First-quarter revenues were $1.21 billion, down from the year-ago $1.66 billion.

PotashCorp missed its first-quarter guidance of $0.10-$0.20 per share and has lowered its guidance for the year from $0.90-$1.00 to $0.60-$0.80 per share. Second-quarter guidance is $0.15-$0.20 per share.

“Lower prices for all nutrients weighed on our performance for the quarter and contributed to a more subdued outlook for the year,” said PotashCorp President and CEO Jochen Tilk. “In potash, the deferral of new contracts in China led to cautious buying patterns in other regions, resulting in a weaker demand environment and lower prices.”

“Amidst this backdrop, we took meaningful steps during the quarter that align with our potash strategy, including the suspension of operations in New Brunswick and production curtailments in Saskatchewan. While these steps impacted our first-quarter results, we are confident they best support medium to long-term performance. Our approach to markets – like our approach to the balance sheet – will continue to be proactive and prudent,” said Tilk.

“Importantly, we believe this approach – coupled with supportive economics and recognition of improved nutrient value by farmers – is already making a difference. In recent weeks, spot markets have begun to stabilize and customer sentiment is improving. We see better conditions for the remainder of 2016, but recognize that the timing and strength of a recovery is still unfolding.”

Anglo American plc earlier today announced it has reached an agreement with China Molybdenum Co. Ltd. (CMOC) to sell its niobium and phosphates businesses in Brazil for $1.5 billion in cash. Analysts said the sale was at around $500 million above expectations. Other companies that were interested in the Anglo assets are reported to have included The Mosaic Co., Vale SA in partnership with U.S private equity firm Apollo Global Management (GM April 15, p.14) as well as EuroChem Group AG.

“The proceeds from this transaction … will enable us to continue to reduce our net debt towards our targeted level of less than $10 billion at the end of 2016,” said Anglo’s CEO, Mark Cutifani. Anglo put up the niobium and phosphates businesses for sale in December as part of an accelerated and more radical restructuring to redefine the focus of the group’s asset portfolio and cut debt (GM Dec. 14, 2015). Anglo said in mid-February it already had received expressions of interest from 16 bidders for the businesses and CEO Mark Cutifani had said a sale could happen “within two-to-three months.”

Anglo’s phosphates business includes the Chapadao phosphate mine and a beneficiation plant at Ouvidor in Goiás state and two downstream phosphates complexes located at Catalão, also in Goiás state, and at Cubatão in São Paulo state (GM Oct. 26, p. 14). The business also includes the Coqueiros and Morro Preto phosphate deposits. The niobium and phosphates businesses in 2015 reported a combined EBIT of $119 million on revenues of $544 million ($433 million from phosphates and $111 million from niobium) and posted a pre-tax profit of $69 million. The business contributed 5 percent of Anglo’s total EBIT of $2.22 billion last year.

Compass Minerals reported first-quarter net earnings of $49.7 million ($1.46 per diluted share) on sales of $345.7 million, compared to the year-ago $60.6 million ($1.79 per share) and $393 million, respectively.

Despite a mild winter, a 7 percent uptick in year-over-year Salt operating earnings, partially offset a 75 percent decline in the Plant Nutrition segment. Plant Nutrition earnings dropped to $5.3 million on sales of $51.1 million from the year-ago $20.8 million and $73.6 million, respectively. Both sales volumes and prices were down with volumes at 74,000 st with an average sales price of $689/st compared to the year-ago 97,000 st and $759/st, respectively.

The MMTC tender closed Monday, April 25 with prices ranging from $226/mt CFR to $244/mt CFR, representing an almost $30/mt drop in prices since the last Indian tender last year.

Dreymoor came in with the lowest offer for 120,000 mt at $226.92/mt CFR into the East Coast port of Gangavaram. Following was Aries with 246,000 mt at 227.60 to the West Coast port of Rozy to $227.10-$231.47/mt CFR to East Coast ports.

All told, 23 companies put up about 2.3 million tons in firm offers with another 366,000 mt of optional offers.

Earlier estimates of freight of $13-$15/mt would put the netback to China at $212-$214/mt FOB, well even the most aggressive producers were willing to discuss in the run up to the tender closing.

India reportedly already has about 1.2 million mt on hand to start the season. Sources speculated before the tender closed that MMTC might buy just a few tons to top off what the country already has on hand. That speculation, however, was passed on Chinese prices in the $220s/mt FOB. The lower price reflected in this tender might prompt MMTC to snap up as many tons as possible to seriously front-load the application season.

See the April 29 issue of Green Markets for more details and discussion of this tender.

Tampa anhydrous ammonia for May has moved up $10/mt from April to $320/mt DEL. Sources had been expecting a slight shift in either direction if not another roll over.

Yara International ASA reported first-quarter net income after non-controlling interests of NOK 2,800 million (NOK 10.22 per share), compared with the year-ago NOK 729 million (NOK 2.65 per share). Excluding net foreign exchange gain and special items, the result was NOK 9.14 per share compared with NOK 10.51 per share in first quarter 2015. First-quarter EBITDA excluding special items was NOK 5,050 million compared with NOK 5,742 million a year earlier.

“Yara reports strong results in a challenging market environment, even as weaker fertilizer prices and lower deliveries impacted earnings,” said Svein Tore Holsether, president and CEO. “Our operational performance improved compared with the fourth quar­ter, with both ammonia and finished fertilizer production running at high levels. In addition, lower natural gas cost in Europe continued to improve Yara’s competitive position during the quarter.”

Global Yara fertilizer deliveries were 5 percent lower compared with first quarter 2015, mainly reflecting lower nitrate and compound NPK sales. All regions except Brazil saw lower sales. In Europe, fertilizer deliveries were 9 percent lower than a year earlier, with nitrate deliveries down 18 percent and NPK compound deliveries down 5 percent. Industrial segment sales volumes were in line with first quarter 2015. Yara’s margins declined compared to first quarter last year, as realized prices fell more than input costs.

Yara’s average realized urea prices decreased around 20 percent, nitrate prices were 15 percent lower, and compound NPK prices decreased on average 12 percent com­pared with first quarter 2015. Yara’s average global gas costs were 32 percent lower than a year ago.

J. R. Simplot Co. said April 20 that production is ramping up at its new Gal-Xeone controlled release polymer coating production facility at its Lathrop, Calif., manufacturing complex. The unit is expected to come online later this spring. This is the second facility to produce the product; a Florida facility is run by licensee partner, Florikan.

When in full production, Simplot says the new capability will not only increase the availability of the Gal-Xeone coated nutrients, but enable wider distribution and immediate access in-market to western United States and international customers. Simplot says the product is ideally suited for the turf, horticulture, landscape, nursery and specialty agricultural market segments that are prevalent throughout the western U.S.

“Our customers have come to expect high quality, innovative products and dependable service delivery,” said Jeff Roesler, vice president of Simplot’s Specialty AgriBusiness team. “This production facility gives us flexibility that we have not had in the past.”

“We continue to look for innovative opportunities to better serve our customers,” said Garrett Lofto, president of Simplot’s AgriBusiness Group. “When we purchased this technology, it became clear that we needed to expand our production in order to best meet our customers’ demands, and this new production will enable us to do that in the domestic and international markets we serve.”

Simplot says Gal-Xeone polymer coating effectively controls nutrient release over an extended period of time – up to 18 months. This technology provides predictable release of plant nutrients throughout the growing cycle, and was developed with the assistance of NASA’s Space Alliance Technology Outreach Program (SATOP).