Intrepid Potash Inc. reported a third-quarter loss of $1.9 million on sales of $32.1 million, an improvement over the year-ago loss of $18.2 million and $43.6 million, respectively.

“We continue to successfully execute on our strategy to diversify our income streams, improve our potash margins, and grow our Trio^® sales volumes.” said Bob Jornayvaz, Intrepid’s executive chairman, president and CEO. “By focusing on what we can control through a challenging part of the cycle, we have made improvements in potash profitability and increased Trio^® sales both domestically and abroad. We also doubled our water sales for the second consecutive quarter. As a result of our disciplined approach, we have greatly reduced our outstanding debt levels and improved our performance such that going forward we will pay the lowest interest rates provided under our senior notes.”

Potash Corp. of Saskatchewan Inc. reported third-quarter net income of $53 million ($.06 per diluted share) on sales of $1.23 billion, down from the year-ago $81 million ($0.10 per share) and $1.14 billion. The company took a non-cash impairment charge in its phosphate segment of $0.03 per share.

“With strong customer engagement in all key markets, potash fundamentals continued to improve in the third quarter,” said PotashCorp President and CEO Jochen Tilk. “In this environment, we delivered stronger potash results on record quarterly sales volumes and higher price realizations. Importantly, we expect that the rising consumption trends in place today will continue, with the potential for another record shipment year in 2018.

National Fertilizer Ltd. of India called a urea tender Oct. 25 to close Oct. 31 and with awarded product to be shipped by Dec. 20.

The tender was expected after RCF awarded 426,000 mt in its tender form earlier this month. After the RCF tender awards, sources estimated India will still need slightly more than 500,000 mt to close out the current application season.

NFL and RCF were granted special permission to import urea this quarter by the Indian government. Normally only MMTC, IPL and STC import the highly subsidized product.

Yara International ASA delivered weaker third-quarter results compared to year-ago levels. Net income after non-controlling interests was NOK 709 million (NOK 2.60 per share), compared with NOK 821 million (NOK 3.00 per share) a year earlier.

“Our financial results are weaker than a year earlier due to lower commodity fertilizer margins,” said President and CEO Svein Tore Holsether. “Although prices picked up towards the end of the quarter, we continue to see the market as fundamentally supply-driven, and therefore remain focused on strengthening our own operations.” Total fertilizer deliveries were 6 percent higher than in third quarter 2016 driven by higher urea deliveries in North America and continued growth in Brazil. Industrial deliveries were 6 percent higher than a year earlier. Yara’s production system performed well during the quarter, with ammonia and finished fertilizer production respectively 7 percent and 8 percent higher than a year earlier.

“Yara reports a strong production performance for the quarter, with several production records and the Yara Improvement Program delivering ahead of schedule,” added Holsether.

Yara’s average realized nitrate prices increased 10 percent while realized NPK and urea prices were respectively 3 percent and 2 percent higher than a year ago. Yara said the global farm margin outlook and incentives for fertilizer application remains supportive overall, and the price trend for cereal, meat and dairy has been positive year to date.

Potash Corp. of Saskatchewan Inc., Saskatoon, and Agrium Inc., Calgary, said Oct. 18 that India has approved their proposed merger of equals transaction.

An Indian appellate court has approved a settlement reached between the merger parties and the Competition Commission of India (CCI) and has directed the CCI to issue a clearance order. The CCI’s approval will be conditioned on the parties’ commitment to divest PotashCorp’s minority shareholdings in Arab Potash Co., Israel Chemicals Ltd. and Sociedad Quimica y Minera de Chile SA within a period of 18 months from the issuance of the order. The companies are permitted to consummate the merger prior to the divestments.

The companies previously received unconditional clearance for the merger in Canada, Brazil and Russia. The regulatory review and approval process continues in the U.S. and China and the parties expect to close the transaction by the end of the fourth quarter of 2017.

Upon closing the merger transaction, the new company will be named Nutrien.

As of Oct. 16, the Ohio River is now open at Lock & Dam 52, according to the Waterways Council Inc. The river reopened on Oct. 14 after it had been closed for nearly a week due to rising river stages that exceeded the maximum locking stage of 20.7 feet.  Precipitation from Hurricane Nate prompted the rising river levels and closure, but L&D 52 was closed from Sept. 6-14 due to an unscheduled maintenance outage at the 89-year-old facility.

As of Oct. 16, there were 58 vessels with 658 barges waiting to transit L&D 52. This backup is over roughly a 20-mile stretch of river.