Koch Fertilizer Trading Sarl Sucursal Uruguay (KFTU) has announced the opening of its new bonded warehouse in the port of Paranaguá, Brazil. The state-of-the-art facility – built, owned and operated by RochaLog – will be used exclusively by KFTU. With storage capacity up to 57,000 mt, KFTU intends to market and sell a variety of fertilizers from the facility.

“Our bonded warehouse in Paranaguá, Brazil will allow us to sell to our customers in any state, providing greater flexibility for them to manage their purchase planning and inventory control,” said Reinaldo Bello, managing director of Latin America Sales and Trading for KFTU. “Our customers will benefit from immediate availability and faster order fulfilment from our storage inventory, instead of waiting for products that may be delayed on a vessel waiting for a berth.”

At bonded warehouses, products are unloaded and warehoused, but treated as though still in international waters. Once the product is sold, the purchaser is responsible for all importation fees and taxes.

KFTU, based out of Montevideo, Uruguay, serves customers throughout Latin America.

Potash Corp. of Saskatchewan Inc. reported a 39 percent drop in first quarter net income to $340 million ($0.40 per diluted share) on sales of $1.68 billion, compared to the year-ago $556 million ($0.63 per share) on sales of $2.1 billion. While earnings were down they exceeded earlier PotashCorp and analyst projections. One special factor was a $69 million ($0.06 per share) special dividend from PotashCorp’s stake in Israel Chemicals Ltd.

After a challenging second half 2013, PotashCorp said greater demand and stability emerged in the first quarter. Sales volumes were up for both potash and nitrogen, though they were down for phosphate products.

Tampa anhydrous ammonia prices remain flat for May 2014, as major players have concluded new business at $580/mt CFR, in line with April business.

Israel Chemicals Ltd. will expand its production of its new fertilizer polyhalite at its Boulby mine located in northeastern England. The decision follows the approval of the UK government of a 4.9 million pound grant for the expansion of the project of its Cleveland Potash Ltd. (CPL) subsidiary.

The expansion is part of a 38 million pound investment program by CPL to increase capacity and mining of polyhalite marketed as polysulfphate to around 600,000 mt/y from the current level of 130,000 mt/y. “We see significant potential in increasing our production capacity and the marketing of polysulphate,” said ICL Fertilizers CEO Nissim Adar. He added that the positive response of customers and the company’s expectation for increased demand led ICL to decide to substantially increase production.

ICL said that the new investment will be made over the next year after a full scale evaluation of the potential for a further expansion will be completed. CPL says it is currently the only company mining polyhalite and in 2010 ICL began marketing it as a new fertilizer for the agricultural markets.

ICL noted that geological surveys indicate there are deposits of more than a billion mt of polyhalite under the company’s potash mine in Boulby. The Boulby mine is currently the sole producer of potash in the UK.

CHS Inc., St. Paul, Minn., announced on April 23 that it has formed a 50-50 joint venture company with Fessenden Cooperative Association, Fessenden, N.D., to construct and operate a fertilizer warehouse at Hamberg, N.D. The facility will have 28,000 tons of nitrogen, potassium, sulfate, phosphorus, and micronutrients storage capacity and product blending capabilities.

CHS said the new warehouse at Hamberg will primarily serve farmer-owners of Fessenden Cooperative Association’s retail business, and CHS will also serve its nearby wholesale customers from this location. Plant construction will begin this summer and is expected to be completed by fall 2015. When the plant is operational, Hovland said three additional employees will be hired.

"Future market forces and trends for our region indicate we can expect more corn acres, CRP acres coming back into production, and overall increased fertilizer use to ensure healthy, profitable yields," said Mark Hovland, general manager of Fessenden Cooperative. "Our new, larger, and more efficient facility will give area growers better overall fertilizer service and options."

Hovland said the fertilizer warehouse is the second major partnership with CHS. Last year, Fessenden Cooperative and CHS built a greenfield grain shuttle loading facility on the Burlington Northern rail line at Hamberg. "Long-range plans for improved fertilizer capacity and service have long been part of our growth strategy, and we look to CHS to provide global access to a wide array of markets as well as valuable marketing insights and expertise," he said.

"CHS is focused on expanding its crop nutrients business to continue to provide its retail customers with an assured, timely supply of crop nutrients vital to profitable crop production," said Cheryl Schmura, CHS vice president, Crop Nutrients, marketing and sales. "Our partnership with Fessenden Cooperative adds critical storage capacity in a key geography."

Formed in 1943, Fessenden Cooperative is a farmer-owned grain and agronomy cooperative located in central North Dakota. The company has 60 employees serving about 700 customers from six locations in four counties. Products and services include grain marketing, crop nutrients, crop protection products, and seed sales along with custom application, crop scouting, and soil testing.

The Honorable Ed Fast, Canada’s Minister of International Trade, today announced that Canada has signed a US$40-million contract to supply potash to Bangladesh from Canpotex Ltd. Minister Fast was joined by Minister Lynne Yelich, Member of Parliament Randy Hoback and Brad Wall, Premier of Saskatchewan.

The contract was negotiated between the Canadian Commercial Corp. and the Bangladesh Agricultural Development Corp. The contract includes an option for Canpotex to supply an additional US$20-million worth of potash.

Facilitated by the Canadian Commercial Corp., the Government of Canada’s international government-to-government contracting organization, the potash will be mined from Canpotex’s members’ mines and will be delivered to Bangladesh over the coming year.

Pinnacle Agriculture Holdings LLC announced on April 21 that it has successfully acquired Harvey’s Agricultural Solutions LLC and 3-D Agronomy in Carson City, Mich. Harvey’s will operate as part of Pinnacle’s Providence Agriculture brand.

Founded in 2000, Harvey’s offers fertilizer, crop protection chemicals, seed, and other value-added services from two locations in Michigan. The Carson City location at 9650 Roosevelt Road will continue to be managed by Jim Sheppard, while the Lennon location at 11784 E. Lytle Road will remain under the management of Tony Crist.

“The Harvey’s team is very excited to become part of the Pinnacle family of brands,” said former Harvey’s owner Mike McCrackin. “Pinnacle’s foundation of trust, loyalty, and integrity is very much like that of Harvey’s. The similarity of our company cultures creates potential for a synergistic working arrangement to exceed everyone’s expectations.”

The current employees of Harvey’s will retain their positions under the new ownership. “Not only will this unification be a great win for our long-term customers, but it will be very exciting for our valued employees to grow at a much faster pace,” added McCrackin. “This will truly be a win-win opportunity for all parties.”

Founded in 2012, Pinnacle’s growing retail distribution business now serves growers in 18 states through the company’s Sanders, Providence Agriculture, AgOne Application Services, and Innvictis brands. The company’s operations include seed production and sales, agricultural chemical distribution, bulk handling of fertilizer, precision agriculture services, and general merchandise for the farming, livestock, and wildlife industries. Pinnacle has recently been in a rapid expansion mode, announcing seven acquisitions during March 2014 alone (GM March 17, p. 1; March 31, p. 1).

“Harvey’s is a highly-regarded business with similar company values and goals of grower success,” said Al Bousley, Providence regional business director. “Here at Providence, we are also committed to innovation and delivering new solutions to help our farmers become more profitable. We are confident that the community Harvey’s has served so well will continue to receive exceptional service.”

CF Industries Holdings Inc. said late April 21 that its entire Woodward, Okla., nitrogen complex is offline due to a problem in one of the boilers. CF said all of the plants in the complex were safely shut down with no impact on personnel, the surrounding community or the environment. CF estimates that it will take approximately 6 to 8 weeks to return the plant to normal operations. During the outage, the plant will execute the turnaround maintenance activities that had previously been scheduled for June.

The Woodward complex has average annual production capacity for 480,000 st of gross ammonia, 820,000 st of UAN, and 25,000 st of urea liquor. CF said its sales sales organization is communicating with customers to work through product availability and delivery schedule implications.