PhosAgro has sold 10,000 mt of DAP into NOLA at a barge price of $275/st FOB, for arrival second-half February. Other players are more bearish, however, reporting sales into March at $265/st FOB. The Green Markets NOLA DAP price in the Jan. 10 issue was $247-$265/st FOB.

Cronus Fertilizer, Tuscola, Ill., which is planning a new 2,300 mt/d ammonia project for Illinois, announced Jan. 13 that Titan Chemicals Holding, an entity controlled by Keyman Avunduk Investment Co. AG (KAIC) has become the majority shareholder of the project. Melih Keyman is founder of KAIC, and is also the founder, President and CEO of long-time industry player Keytrade AG.

German trading firm Mabanaft GmbH & Co. KG, Hamberg, is both a major investor and offtake player in Gulf Coast Ammonia LLC’s planned 1.3 million mt/y ammonia plant to be built in Texas City, Texas. Mabanaft said Jan. 9 that it has an offtake agreement for some 500,000 mt/y of the capacity, which it plans to market. Other offtake players have not been announced.

Both Manbanaft and an affiliate of Starwood Energy Group Global LLC are now in charge at GCA, which was initiated some five years ago by Agrifos Partners LLC, New York City and Borealis AG, Vienna. Borealis is reported to have bowed out of the project within the past few years as the other players came on board.

Gulf Coast Ammonia LLC said Jan. 8 that its new plant, which is planned for Texas, will have a capacity of 1.3 million mt/y. This is up from earlier filings that had indicated a possible capacity of 750,000 mt/y (GM Oct. 12, 2018). Plans have been in the works since at least 2015 (GM May 25, 2015).

As earlier reported, GCA says it has closed on nonrecourse project financing for the plant. The company says construction will begin in early 2020 with commissioning expected in the first half of 2023.

CHS Inc., St. Paul, reported a dip in first quarter income attributable to the cooperative of $177.9 million on revenues of $7.6 billion for the first-quarter ending Nov. 30, 2019, compared to the year-ago $347.5 million and $8.5 billion.

In its Ag segment, CHS cited decreased fertilizer volumes due to a slow harvest season versus the year-ago quarter. Income was off in all three major sectors—Ag, Nitrogen Production and Energy, with Ag posting a pretax loss of $13.9  million compared to year-ago income of $80.3 million.

Gulf Coast Ammonia LLC said Jan. 8 that it has closed on nonrecourse project financing for its world-scale anhydrous ammonia plant in Texas on Dec. 30, 2019. Construction capital will be provided by a joint venture of Starwood Energy Group Global LLC and Mabanaft GmbH & Co. KG. The facility will have a production capacity of approximately 1.3 million mt/y.

GCA said construction will begin in early 2020 with commissioning expected in the first half of 2023.

Eastman Chemical Co., Kingsport, Tenn., announced Jan. 8 that it would participate in strategic project with Gulf Coast Ammonia (GCA) and Air Products Inc. GCA will lease a portion of Eastman’s Texas City site and will own a new world-scale ammonia production plant. Air Products will build, own and operate at Eastman’s Texas City site its largest-ever steam methane reformer, an air separation unit to supply nitrogen, and a steam turbine generator to supply power and certain other utilities to operate the new ammonia plant.

The GCA project is being developed by Agrifos Partners LLC, New York City, and Borealis AG, Vienna, which is involved in polyolefins, base chemicals and fertilizers (GM Oct. 12, 2018). Initial filings indicate the plant is expected to produce over 750,000 mt/y.

Anglo American Plc has moved to buy Sirius Minerals Plc’s giant U.K. potash project, according to a Bloomberg report. Anglo said it’s in advanced talks with Sirius about a possible 5.5 pence-a-share offer that values the company at about $508 million. While that’s a premium of 34 percent on Sirius’s closing share price on Jan. 7, the company was worth more than $2.3 billion 18 months ago, before its funding plans dried up noted Bloomberg.

Sirius’s plans were thrown into doubt last year after it suspended a bond sale, required to unlock a $2.5 billion credit facility from JPMorgan Chase & Co. The company was forced in November to scale back its plans, but had also said it was talking with potential investors or buyers.

Indian state-owned MMTC closed a urea tender over the year-end holidays. Thirteen companies offered about 2.5 million mt, in firm and optional tons, not the 5.6 million mt originally reported. The tonnage was changed to reflect a corrected reading of the tally sheet presented to Green Markets.

The low price for the East Coast came from Surya Global at $258.48/mt CFR. The West Coast low price was from Midgulf at $255.20/mt CFR, These prices represent about a $7/mt jump since the RCF tender from November 2019. In addition, Muntajat offered the lowest producer price at $244/mt FOB, which was up about $8/mt from the last tender.

The Tampa anhydrous ammonia price for January was concluded at $250/mt CFR, a roll over from the December price. Market observers had been predicting either a rollover or lower pricing.