The Chinese Ministry of Commerce approved the Agrium Inc. and Potash Corp. of Saskatchewan Inc. merger with conditions including divestment of PotashCorp’s holdings in Arab Potash Co., Israel Chemicals Ltd. and Sociedad Quimica y Minera de Chile SA (SQM) within 18 months of closing of the merger, according to statement on the ministry’s website, said Bloomberg. PotashCorp has already agreed to shed the assets as a condition to getting approval from India.

The ministry is also requiring the new entity to maintain stable potash supply to China in the future.

Agrium Inc., Calgary, announced Nov. 7 that it has signed a definitive asset purchase agreement with Itafos, whereby Agrium will sell its Conda, Idaho, phosphate production facility and adjacent phosphate mineral rights for a sale price of approximately $100-million, including working capital. Agrium has also entered into a definitive asset purchase agreement with Trammo Nitrogen Products Inc., a wholly-owned subsidiary of Trammo Inc., whereby Agrium will sell its North Bend, Ohio Nitric Acid facility.

The Conda facility and related assets include the entirety of Agrium’s superphosphoric acid business in North America and the North Bend facility represents the entirety of Agrium’s nitric acid business in the Midwest region. These divestitures are intended to address U.S. regulatory concerns raised with respect to Agrium’s merger with Potash Corp. of Saskatchewan Inc. and are subject to U.S. Federal Trade Commission’s approval.

As part of the sale of the Conda business, Agrium and Itafos will enter into long-term strategic supply and off-take agreements as part of the transaction. Under the terms of the supply and off-take agreements, Agrium will supply 100 percent of the ammonia requirements of Conda Phosphate Operations and purchase 100 percent of MAP product produced, with pricing formulas for both tied to benchmark phosphate fertilizer prices.

Agrium is expected to record a non-cash impairment of $178-million, net of tax (gross of tax $295-million) associated with the sale of Conda and will retain the historical environmental obligations.

CF Industries Holdings Inc. reported third-quarter losses attributable to common shareholders of $87 million ($0.37 per diluted share) on net sales of $870 million compared to a year-ago loss of $30 million ($0.13 per share) and $680 million, respectively. While sales volumes grew to 4.88 million st from the year-ago 3.67 million st, prices were off for most nitrogen categories.

“The CF team delivered strong results in what is typically the quarter with the lowest demand in North America,” said Tony Will, CF president and CEO. “We ran our plants safely and at high utilization rates, leveraged our North American distribution platform and increased our global customer base. Together, these enabled our company to benefit from the strengthening global price environment that developed during the third quarter.”

CF noted that nitrogen prices are on the way up, saying that granular urea prices were $160/st FOB at New Orleans at the start of the quarter and $245/st at quarter’s end.

Nitrogen producer CVR Partners LP reported a third-quarter loss of $31.6 million ($0.28 per common unit) on sales of $69.4 million, compared to the year-ago loss of $13.4 million ($0.12 per unit) and $78.5 million, respectively.

“Production levels in the third quarter were negatively impacted by the planned 14-day turnaround at our East Dubuque facility, which was completed on time and on budget,” said CEO Mark Pytosh. “However, the plant experienced eight days of unplanned downtime due to an exchanger outage during the quarter. The Coffeyville facility also underwent three days of unscheduled downtime that partly was related to maintenance issues at Linde’s air separation plant.

“U.S. nitrogen fertilizer pricing continued to be negatively impacted by new production capacity starting during the third quarter,” he added. “With these capacity expansions largely behind us and with strong international demand for nitrogen fertilizer, we have seen a significant increase in pricing since July and are seeing these higher prices reflected in product purchases for the fourth quarter and the first half of 2018.”

Richardson International Ltd., Winnipeg, Manitoba, has announced the acquisition of 10 retail crop inputs locations in Western Canada from CHS Canada LP. The transaction is expected to close in November. Richardson will acquire nine crop inputs locations in Alberta – Alix, Beiseker, Bow Island, Carseland, Craddock, Lacombe, Rolling Hills, Standard and Vauxhall – and one in Edenwold, Sask. All 10 locations are full-service crop input retailers, providing producers with chemical, fertilizer and seed services.

The Mosaic Co. announced third quarter net earnings attributable to the company of $227.5 million ($0.65 per diluted share) on sales of $1.98 billion, up from the year-ago $39.2 million ($0.11 per share) and $1.95 billion, respectively. Some $91 million or $0.22 per share of the earnings came from notable items, including a land sale and a foreign currency transaction gain.

The Mosaic Co. announced the idling of its Plant City, Fla., concentrates plant for an indefinite period of at least one year. It said the move is expected to ensure minimal market disruption from new capacity additions, including Mosaic’s Saudi Arabian joint venture, and is expected to result in higher phosphate margins and lower capital requirements. The company expects to serve a significant portion of its distribution business and other Indian customers more effectively with phosphate production from its Saudi Arabian jv and will focus U.S. production on the North and South American markets where it has logistical advantages.

Mosaic says it has identified additional value creation opportunities ahead of the pending acquisition of Vale Fertilizantes, which are expected to result in $275 million of annualized improved cash flow by the end of 2020. This guidance replaces the previously announced target of $75 million in annual operating synergies.

Mosaic has approved a reduction in the annual dividend target to $0.10 per share and declared a quarterly dividend of $0.025 per share to be paid on Dec. 21, 2017 to stockholders of record as of close of business on Dec. 7, 2017.

LSB Industries Inc. reported a third-quarter loss from continuing operations of $17.1 million on net sales of $92.4 million, an improvement over the year-ago loss of $39.5 million and $80.3 million, respectively.

The company announced that repairs were completed at its El Dorado, Ark., ammonia plant, and it returned to production Oct. 22. However, the company said that while fire-related repairs at its Pryor, Okla., plant are expected to be concluded this week, the company has opted to replace the process gas pre-heat system that was originally planned for the 2018 turnaround. As a result, this work will be completed by the third week of November.

Compass Minerals reported third-quarter net earnings of $32.0 million ($0.94 per diluted share) on sales of $290.7 million compared to the year-ago $9.1 million ($0.27 per share) and $179.6 million, respectively. Special items impacting results in the 2017 third quarter include a tax benefit of $13.0 million, or $0.38 per diluted share, as well as a restructuring charge of $4.3 million ($3.0 million net of taxes), which reduced net earnings by $0.09 per diluted share. Excluding these items, net earnings were $22.0 million, or $0.65 per diluted share.

“We posted solid earnings this quarter, including the positive impact from the addition of our Plant Nutrition South America (Produquímica Indústria e Comércio SA) segment and margin improvement in our Plant Nutrition North America segment, and our North American highway deicing bid season results were in line with our expectations following the mild winter,” said Fran Malecha, Compass Minerals’ president and CEO.

North American fertilizer sales volumes were off during the quarter, though pricing was up. Volumes were 65,000 st with an average price of $626/st versus the year-ago 70,000 st and $591/st, respectively.

Company third-quarter revenues increased 62 percent as a result of the Produquímica acquisition. Salt and Plant Nutrition North America segment revenue declined 8 percent and 3 percent, respectively, from the prior year.

Huntsman Corp. and Clariant on Oct. 27 jointly announced that they have terminated their proposed merger of equals by mutual agreement. The decision was unanimously approved by the boards of directors of Huntsman and Clariant. Activist investors had opposed the deal.