The Fertilizer Institute today announced the passing of former TFI President Ford West. “For more than thirty years, Ford West was the face of The Fertilizer Institute (TFI),” said the organization. “His tireless advocacy for TFI, its members and the Nutrients for Life Foundation (NFLF) was unmatched, and serves as an inspiration today to all who served with him.”

TFI said an announcement regarding TFI’s plan to memorialize Ford’s exceptional life and service to the industry will be forthcoming. 

Incitec Pivot Ltd. reported Feb. 15 that its major turnaround at its Waggaman ammonia plant in Louisiana will extend into March, with the target date for the plant to come back up now March 15. The earnings impact of the turnaround extension and an additional plant outage that occurred prior to the turnaround are expected to be an incremental US$15 million from previous expectations while the capital cost of the turnaround has increased by US$10 million.

LSB Industries Inc., Oklahoma City, announced Feb. 16 that on Feb. 12 it temporarily took its Pryor, Okla., facility out of service as a result of a recent surge in natural gas prices that has taken place in the region due to extremely cold temperatures. Also related to the cold weather, the operator of the pipeline that supplies natural gas to the Pryor facility is experiencing significant weather related gas supply impacts and, as a result, has curtailed gas distribution to commercial customers. LSB said it will restart production at Pryor as soon as natural gas prices and availability normalize.

The Andersons Inc. is making an investment in BioStar Renewables LLC and is establishing an active working relationship focused on the areas of renewable natural gas (RNG) and organic fertilizer. BioStar specializes in anaerobic digestion technology that can transform animal, food and other wastes into renewable natural gas and organic fertilizer.

Nutrien Ltd. has announced new liquid phosphate prices effective, March 1. The new price for super phosphoric acid represents an increase of 36 percent compared to the previous price level, increasing from $920/st P2O5 to $1,250/st P2O5. A similar increase will be applied across all Nutrien’s liquid phosphate products, including ammonium poly phosphate (APP).

Belarusian Potash Co. has reached agreement with a group of Chinese buyers, including Sinochem, CNAMPGC and CNOOC, Bloomberg reported, citing the company’s website. The price was reported to be $247/mt CFR, up from the year-ago $220/mt CFR to China. It is the same price BPC inked with India a few weeks ago. The price settled for 2021 will supply product through Dec. 31, 2021.

The U.S. Department of Commerce on Feb. 9 announced its affirmative final determinations in the countervailing duty (CVD) investigations of phosphate fertilizers from Morocco and Russia. Final subsidy rates assessed by DOC were 19.97 percent for Morocco and 9.19-47.05 percent for Russia.

The case now moves on to the U.S. International Trade Commission for its final decision due March 25.

Corn futures in Chicago climbed for a second day, touching a new seven-year high amid expectations the U.S. government will cut its domestic inventory outlook because of increasing demand from China. The U.S. Department of Agriculture will reduce estimates for corn and soybean stockpiles by 11 percent and 14 percent, respectively, in its monthly supply and demand report Tuesday, according to a Bloomberg survey of analysts. China, the biggest pork producer, is importing record amounts of both crops as traders focus on predictions for U.S. exports and output in South America, which has suffered from adverse weather.

Nutrien Ltd. has announced a potash price increase of $50/st effective immediately for all new orders. New headline prices effective immediately will be $375-$380/st FOB Midwest terminal references and $345/st FOB NOLA barge. The company said huge demand has depleted inventories with Nutrien’s distribution system now with only half the volume compared to year-ago levels.

The first-quarter Indian phosphoric acid price has reported to have been concluded between Morocco and India at $795/mt CFR, up from the fourth-quarter $689/mt CFR.