Voting members of Larsen Cooperative Co., headquartered in New London, Wisc., have approved a merger with CHS Inc. The decision will become effective in September 2012 pending appropriate due diligence by both organizations. This marks the first Wisconsin-based co-op to join the CHS Country Operations business.

"Our vision lines up well with CHS," said LeRoy Peterson, Larsen general manager. "This is the right thing for us to do both for our patrons as well as our employees. It positions us to serve their needs well into the future."

Larsen Cooperative provides agronomy, grain marketing, feed, farm supply, and energy products and services across 20 communities in northeastern Wisconsin. Home and garden, automotive, and hardware offerings are also part of the Larsen Cooperative business.

"The combination is a good match for both companies," said John McEnroe, CHS senior vice president. "And it aligns with the CHS core commitment to always return value to its member-owners."

The business will continue to operate under the Larsen Cooperative name. Patrons should expect a smooth transition, including continuity of staffing at all Larsen’s locations.

Martin Product Sales LLC has announced exclusive multi-year agreements with Mississippi Power for the transportation and marketing of anhydrous ammonia and sulfuric acid to be produced at Miss Power’s IGCC power plant in Kemper County, Miss., which is currently under construction. Initial production is slated for mid-2014. Ammonia capacity will be approximately 22,000 st/y and sulfuric acid at 225,000 st/y.

MPS is a division of Martin Resources, Kilgore, Texas. For additional information visit www.martinsulfuric.com

The Trading Corporation of Pakistan closed its last tender for the season by issuing a 50,000 mt award to Keytrade at $419.39/ CFR. The price is $7/mt lower than what TCP paid to CHS earlier this month. Nine companies participated in the tender with the highest offer at $447.39/mt CFR.

In the run up to this last tender, sources were expecting to see higher prices. In the end, the price was only higher than what IPL India paid in its tender.

The 50,000 mt closes the TCP buying authorized by the Pakistan government. The government wanted the trading house to bring in 300,000 mt to cover shortfalls in domestic production.

Pakistani producers complained that the only reason there was a shortfall in urea production was because of a government decision to divert natural gas from the industrial sector to the domestic use. In the period leading up to the first couple of tenders the producers argued they could cover the 300,000 mt needed for less than the imports if they were only provided the natural gas they need.

Of the 250,000 mt already ordered, TCP reports that 110,000 mt has arrived in the country and is on its way to regional distributors.

Compass Minerals reported net earnings of $9.5 million on sales of $178.5 million for the second quarter ending June 30, 2012, compared to the year-ago $14 million on sales of $179.9 million. Increased SOP production costs were a negative factor. Actual specialty potash sales were up at $56.2 million from $49.5 million with volumes up at 91,000 st from 83,000 st. Operating earnings from the segment, however, were down at $13.9 million from $18.7 million.

K+S Group reported today that second quarter revenues and earnings are significantly above the corresponding previous year’s figures and as well as current consensus expectations. This is due to strong overseas business and a good early stocking-up in Europe in the Potash/Magnesium segment. Revenues of the K+S Group reached € 996.5 million (Q2/11: € 821.7 million) and operating earnings EBIT I reached € 219.8 million (Q2/11: € 181.9 million). K+S will release complete earnings results Aug. 14.

Israel Chemicals Ltd. has dropped out of the Israeli government tender for the privatizing of the southern port of Eilat. The company was the sole bidder in the tender. However, the government decided to extend the tender until Aug. 5 in hopes that other interested parties would reconsider. The ICL bid came under strong public criticism over the dominant position of the Israel Corp. (which owns the majority stake in Israel Chemicals) in the local economy.

CVR Energy Inc., Sugar Land, Texas, said July 26, that the previously disclosed 60-day sale process to solicit acquisition proposals from third parties to acquire the stock and assets of CVR as an entirety ended July 23, 2012, without the receipt of a bona fide offer.

Jefferies & Company Inc., CVR’s financial adviser, contacted over 30 potential bidders, including independent refining companies and private equity firms, of which four signed confidentiality agreements. CVR received one indication of interest, which CVR and Jefferies did not believe to be credible. CVR did not incur any fees or expenses during the 60-day period in connection with the sales process.

As announced at the time of its tender offer for CVR shares Icahn Enterprises LP, the owner of approximately 82 percent of CVR, does not currently intend to seek to sell CVR.
Icahn Enterprises intends to focus on operating CVR’s business for the benefit of its stockholders because it believes that continual shopping of CVR could be disruptive to its operations.

Mr. Icahn stated at the time he completed his tender offer for CVR shares, that in order to reach a peaceful conclusion he agreed with the company to engage an investment banker to seek to sell the company at a price higher than the tender price, although at the time he stated that he did not believe such an offer would be forthcoming. Icahn also stated that he is quite happy with the current performance of the company and believes fully in its future success.

Potash Corp. of Saskatchewan Inc. reported second quarter earnings of $0.60 per share ($522 million), which compared to $0.96 per share ($840 million) in the same period last year. The company said while this year’s second-quarter results reflected strong underlying performance, they were impacted by notable items, including a $341 million ($0.39 per share) impairment recorded on our investment in Sinofert Holdings Ltd. (Sinofert) and $29 million ($0.02 per share) in items related to the phosphate segment (included in cost of goods sold).

Accelerating potash demand, including unprecedented offshore sales volumes, and record contribution from nitrogen operations resulted in gross margin of $1.2 billion for the quarter, the third-best quarterly total in company history and slightly exceeding that of the same period last year.

For more details, see the Green Markets Web Edition July 27.

The J. R. Simplot Co. will expand its Rock Springs, Wyo., fertilizer manufacturing facility with work commencing on the project immediately.

To meet the increasing demand for critical plant nutrients, Simplot’s first phase of expansion projects will increase dry phosphate production by more than 30 percent. These expansion efforts will also provide the foundation for future capacity growth in both liquid and dry fertilizers.

“The initial stage is expected to be operational by early 2014,” said Martin Hunt, vice president of mining & manufacturing for Simplot. “This expansion aligns well with our strategic growth objectives, while helping diversify our product offering. A portion of the increased production resulting from these expansion efforts will go to Simplot’s new 40 ROCKTM branded product (12-40-0-6.5-1Zn).”

The company’s Vernal, Utah, mine supplies phosphate ore to the Rock Springs manufacturing facility and is expected to meet the incremental ore volumes for expansion efforts without further investment.

Growing and adapting to meet the needs of a rapidly changing customer is critical to future business success, according to Garrett Lofto, president of the Simplot AgriBusiness Group. “The need for expansion in agriculture continues to accelerate as the global demand for food, feed, fiber, and fuel increases. This expansion is an exciting opportunity for us and we are confident employees at both Rock Springs and Vernal will continue to take our integrated phosphate operation to new levels of success.”

Simplot president and CEO Bill Whitacre said, “For more than 75 years, the J. R. Simplot Company has played a key role in various sectors of the global food and agriculture system, and our commitment to this responsibility remains unchanged today.”

Simplot is a privately held agribusiness firm headquartered in Boise, Idaho. It has an integrated portfolio that includes phosphate mining, fertilizer manufacturing, farming, ranching and cattle production, food processing, food brands, and other enterprises related to agriculture. Simplot’s major operations are located in the North America, Australia, New Zealand and China, with products marketed in more than 40 countries worldwide. The company’s mission statement is Bringing Earth’s Resources to Life.