Anuvia Florida LLC, a subsidiary of specialty fertilizer maker Anuvia Plant Nutrients LLC, Zellwood, Fla., will default on about $50 million of municipal bonds issued in 2018 as part of a debt restructuring, according to Bloomberg, citing a company securities filing. Anuvia Florida doesn’t have enough cash to make the Jan. 1 interest payment on the debt.

Israel’s Haifa Group has announced plans to build a 100,000 mt/y ammonia plant at Haifa Negev, in Mishor Rotem, at an investment at over $200 million.

Tampa anhydrous ammonia business for January has settled at $270/mt CFR, up $15/mt from December’s $255/mt CFR. Sources had been predicting a higher price based on higher international ammonia prices, production cuts in Trinidad and higher phosphate prices.

Brandt, Springfield, Ill., has begun the construction of a new $1.5 million 40,000 square foot expansion of its manufacturing facility in Pleasant Plains, Ill. The expansion will allow for additional storage.

The European Union has renewed quarter-century-old trade protection against Russian ammonium nitrate for five more years, dismissing objections from EU farmers opposed to the import curbs, according to Bloomberg. The EU is reimposing tariffs as high as 32.71 euros ($39.85) per metric ton.

Junior ammonia plant developer Cronus Fertilizers has announced changes to its partnership with thyssenkrupp Industrial Solutions (tkIS) that it says will enhance the success of Cronus’ proposed Tuscola, Ill., ammonia plant. Cronus has extended its fixed price, lump-sum turnkey engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) contract with tkIS through June 30, 2021, and is finalizing an additional operations and maintenance (O&M) agreement with tkIS. Under the terms of the O&M agreement, tkIS will be involved in operating and maintaining the plant once it begins production. In addition, tkIS will become a minority shareholder in Cronus Fertilizers LLC.

The planned facility would produce up to 2,300 mt of ammonia per day.

Mosaic Co., Tampa, reports that its potash sales volumes doubled during the month of November to 746,000 mt, up from the year-ago 356,000 mt. Phosphate and Mosaic Fertilizantes volumes were also up.

Acron Group, Moscow, has approved a project to build a new ammonia and urea complex at its Veliky Novgorod production site in northwest Russia, according to an Interfax report.

On completion, the complex will be Europe’s largest for the production of ammonia and urea, according to the report, citing the Russian fertilizer group. Planned ammonia production capacity is put at around 1 million mt/y. The project’s estimated cost is put at $1.5 billion.

President Donald Trump said today Morocco and Israel agreed to establish full diplomatic relations and that he was recognizing Morocco’s sovereignty over the disputed region of Western Sahara, according to Bloomberg.

The Western Sahara issue was long seen as a sticking point in getting Morocco to join with countries including the United Arab Emirates, Sudan and Bahrain in recognizing Israel.

Moroccan King Mohammed VI told Trump that his country will normalize relations with Israel as soon as possible, the state news agency MAP reported.

 “The United States recognizes Moroccan sovereignty over the entire Western Sahara territory and reaffirms its support for Morocco’s serious, credible, and realistic autonomy proposal as the only basis for a just and lasting solution to the dispute over the Western Sahara territory,” the White House said after Trump tweeted.

The Mosaic Co., Tampa, on Dec. 9 announced an agreement with BioConsortia Inc., Davis, Calif., to collaborate to develop and launch nitrogen-fixing microbial products to increase yields on corn, wheat and other major non-legume row crops. The collaboration will use BioConsortia’s patented Advanced Microbial Selection (AMS) process and other proprietary tools to develop microbials capable of colonizing a non-legume crop such as corn.