Magnida Inc. and ConAgra Foods Inc. reached a pre-Christmas agreement which will allow Magnida to proceed with its $2 billion nitrogen plant at American Falls, Idaho. ConAgra had opposed an air permit for the proposed Magnida plant, which would be built next to ConAgra’s large potato processing facility.

Earlier in December, the Idaho Board of Environmental Quality voted 5-1 to send the disputed permit back to a hearing officer for further clarification.

After the IBEQ decision, Idaho Governor Butch Otter was credited with getting involved to get the two companies to iron out their differences.

Magnida says it is in the final stages of lining up financing. It hopes to break ground in the summer of 2015 and have the plant in production as early as 2018.

Pinnacle Agriculture Holdings LLC has acquired the agronomy assets of Gerken’s Feed and Grain in Lake City, Minn. The agronomy business will operate as part of Pinnacle’s Providence Agriculture™ brand as a full-service agricultural input retailer specializing in the sales and service of seed, crop protection chemicals and fertilizer.

Jerry and Jennifer Gerken purchased the agronomy business from Dill Co. in 2003 and have operated it with the philosophy of independently working for the customer. "We feel that Providence Agriculture will continue to build upon this philosophy," said the Gerkens.

"This is a great opportunity for all of us to maximize our efforts in support of our farm customers. Providence Agriculture brings a wealth of experience and expanded product offerings to enhance grower success."

Providence Agriculture’s newest location will remain at 901 7th Street North, Lake City, Minn. Marty Stoll will remain as sales agronomist with Providence Agriculture.

"We are very excited about the recent acquisition. Gerken is a highly-regarded business with similar company values and goals of grower success," said Al Bousley, Providence Agriculture Regional Business Director.

"Here at Providence, we are also committed to innovation and delivering new solutions to help our farmers become more profitable. So, we are confident that the local farm community served so well by the Gerkens will experience a seamless transition and continue to receive exceptional service."

"We are truly excited about expanding our business into the state of Minnesota and look forward to partnering with area farmers," said Rad Page, president of Providence Agriculture. "We believe in building lasting partnerships with our growers by providing only the very best products and helping them make effective input decisions, with the goal of increasing yields and lowering their cost per unit of production."

Lake City, Minn., is Providence Agriculture’s 18th retail location across eight states offering seed, custom fertilizer blends, and crop protection products, as well as award-winning OptiGro® precision agriculture services.

Israel Chemicals Ltd. today announced the completion of its previously announced acquisition of Vale Fertilizante’s equity holding in Fosbrasil SA, a Brazilian-based producer of downstream phosphate-based products including purified phosphoric acid for the food market and phosphate-based fertilizers. ICL and Vale were former joint venture partners in Fosbrasil. With ICL’s acquisition of Prayon SA’s minority position in Fosbrasil, ICL now owns 100 percent of Fosbrasil.

ICL entered into a definitive agreement to acquire Vale’s share of Fosbrasil in December 2013 pending regulatory approval which was recently received.
ICL is a global producer and marketer of phosphoric acids and phosphates with production facilities in Brazil, the US, Mexico, Germany, Israel and China. The acquisition of all of Fosbrasil represents an additional step in ICL’s implementation of its “Next Step Forward” strategy to strengthen ICL’s core business activities in the food, agriculture and engineered materials markets, and to increase its activities in emerging markets, including Brazil, China, India and Africa, which are the primary focus for achieving the Company’s strategic goals.

Consolidating Fosbrasil into ICL’s existing end-to-end phosphate value chain will strengthen ICL’s overall position in the market through synergies utilization and improved competitiveness.

 “We are gratified to complete our acquisition of 100 percent of the equity of Fosbrasil whose product line will enhance our position as a leading company in the production and marketing of phosphate-based, downstream products for the engineered materials and food additives global markets,” said Mark Volmer, president and CEO of ICL Performance Products. “It is part of ICL Performance Products’ global expansion strategy to enable us to achieve greater competitiveness through increased control over our production and marketing activities, as well as by taking advantage of the global synergies and supporting activities offered by ICL which is active throughout the phosphates value chain, from mining phosphates to the production and marketing of downstream products worldwide. Our full ownership of Fosbrasil will also allow us to broaden our product portfolio while optimizing our operations. We welcome the Fosbrasil team to the ICL Performance Products family.”

Uralkali CEO Dmitry Osipov said today the company sees little 2014 impact from the brine inflow and sinkhole at the Solimansk-2 mine. “We expect the accident to have an insignificant impact on our 2014 full-year output target. With increased capacity utilization at other mines, we intend to produce 12 million mt of potash this year to meet strong demand from our customers. Potash market fundamentals remain attractive and in order to maintain our leadership position in the sector we are controlling costs, growing our distribution network and, if necessary, may consider bringing forward the commissioning of new production capacities.”

He said the company is doing its best to save the mine.

Christmas came early for major ammonia buyers this week, at least for January cargoes. Major players have concluded Tampa January anhydrous ammonia business at $545/mt CFR, down some $80/mt from December’s $625/mt CFR.

The Chinese government announced the 2015 fertilizer export rate plan. The new schedule eliminates the high and low season rates used by the government in previous years. Sources say the new schedule matches what industry sources have been expecting for the past couple of weeks.
  
Urea will be exported with a flat duty of RMB80/mt (US$12.93/mt).

The rate for DAP and MAP will be RMB100/mt (US$16.16/mt).

Triple and Single super phosphates will have a 5 percent duty tacked on, as will NP mixes.

The government has the highest export duties on NPK at 30 percent and SOP at RMB600/mt (US$96.95/mt).

The new year-long duty will make exporting Chinese urea and DAP more predictable, say industry watchers. One trader noted there will not be a major rush to secure tons before the export window closes. The move will also help cement China’s role as a major urea and DAP exporting county.

La Coop fédérée and IFFCO on Dec. 16 announced a “strategic pause” in their plans for a urea plant in Bécancour, Quebec. They are  suspending the preparation of preliminary plans and specifications to establish project costs and the signing of an EPC contract (engineering/procurement/construction). They report that construction costs are now estimated to be in excess of C$2 billion, and this suspension will allow the shareholders to review the global strategy of financing, construction and execution.

They say the project now requires a new approach to ensure its realization and viability and in no way is an abandonment of the project.

In coming months, the focus will be put on the search for new partners.

"I have seen for myself that there is interest in the project in the region. We have gone through numerous steps at a fast pace to date, and now we need to refocus the project to ensure its viability in the medium- and long-term," declared Manish Gupta, CEO of IFFCO Canada and IFFCO’s representative on the board.

"Our cooperative values lead us to work in a transparent and rigorous manner, in a perspective of achieving long-term results. We believe that our future fertilizer plant at Bécancour answers a need in the market and that’s why we are moving forward to bring in new partners who will ensure the project’s success," said Gaétan Desroches, CEO of La Coop fédérée. "We recognize and salute the collaboration of all representatives of the government of Québec involved in this project, who have strived to contribute to its optimal development," added IFFCO Canada Director General, Claude Lafleur.

La Coop fédérée and IFFCO said they remain convinced of the value of the project’s major assets, including the quality of the future site in the Bécancour Industrial Park, the strategic access to port and rail facilities, and the favorable context of the North American energy sector with its access to natural gas at a competitive price. Lastly, they said the current state of the market and other similar projects in North America allows IFFCO Canada to take this pause without interfering with the project’s positioning.