Israel Chemicals Ltd. workers closed down four plants in southern Israel as part of a protest against management plans to implement a reorganization plan. They are demanding that management hold talks with them about planned changes. The workers are threatening to intensify their sanctions in the coming days. The four plants that shut down for two hours were Rotem Amfert, Dead Sea Bromine, Dead Sea Periclase, and Dead Sea Magnesium.Workers at a fifth subsidiary, Mifalei Tovala, shut down operations for the whole day. Mifalei Tovala is involved in transporting production to the ports for export.

Last week the unions at six ICL subsidiaries established a joint committee to fight management plans to streamline the company. The unions charge that the plans include layoffs. The plan was announced in August by ICL CEO and President Stefan Borgas and includes efficiencies that would lead to a savings of $400 million over three years.

In a letter to Borgas the unions state that the plan is in breach of ICL’s labor contracts. They are also demanding immediate talks with the union representatives on the consequences of the proposed plan. The letter also stated that unless management agreed to talks they would ask the Histadrut Labor Federation to declare a labor dispute. The union at Dead Sea Works was not involved in action.

ICL management said that that in view of the challenging environment facing the company management is examining ways to improve competitiveness and this would be done in a full transparent fashion with the knowledge of the unions.

Three important urea tenders closed, showing a marked increase in prices. The price increases ranged from $30/mt in India to about $75/mt in Bangladesh.

The first of the tenders to close was BCIC in Bangladesh. The lowest price for the 50,000 mt granular tender that closed Nov. 6 was $412/mt CFR bagged. That compares to $336/mt CFR bagged just a month ago. Traders said prices are usually higher in Bangladesh because of port complications and restrictive bagging requirements.

The next tender to close was TCP in Pakistan Nov. 8. The state-owned buying house called for offers of 100,000 mt. The tightness of the market was exemplified by the fact that only three companies participated in the event. The lowest offer was $344.73/mt CFR. The last TCP tender, in August settled at $311/mt CFR.

The final tender was the much anticipated IPL tender from India. India needs about 2 million mt by the end of the year. Recent tenders have shown a steady rise in prices combined with limited tonnage offered. The lowest price was $339.33/mt CFR. The next two lowest prices were $341.75/mt CFR and $342.99/mt CFR. The last Indian tender showed prices at $309.90-312.50.mt CFR.

The usual suppliers to India are Chinese and Iranian producers. In the latest tender, most of the traders indicated OPEN sourcing for their offers. One trader said at the right price, some material could even come from the Black Sea.

The export window for China closed Nov. 1. Only tons in bonded warehouses are available for export at the lower duty. Sources say the bonded warehouses in China only have about 1 million mt.

Iranian producers are said to have only 200-300,000 mt available for November-December shipment.

The three lowest offers in the IPL tender totaled 350,000 mt, which included 170,000 mt from Iran. Sources say IPL will try to take as many of the remaining Chinese tons as possible, but that would still leave it short for the country’s demand.

Adding to India’s problem are reports that some of the tons in the Chinese warehouses are already booked for Pakistan or Bangladesh.

For political and economic reasons, Pakistan and Bangladesh do not take Iranian material. That leaves the supplies in the Chinese warehouses or the more expensive Arab and CIS producers to fulfill their needs.

For Pakistan the problems of getting a decent price for its product grows each day. The buying house is not allowed to negotiate with the also-rans in tenders. Sources say it will issue an award to CHS Europe for 100,000 mt in the Nov. 8 tender. Another tender was scheduled to close today and three more on the 18th, 20th and 22nd.

With each tender, sources say supply will dwindle and prices will increase.

The Pakistan urea producers have complained that the country could save money if it were to ensure the domestic urea producers had sufficient supplies of natural gas. The producers argue the domestic urea is cheaper to produce than importing material.

The government diverted natural gas away from the industrial sector to placate growing individual consumer needs.

Agrium Inc. reported third-quarter consolidated net earnings of $76-million ($0.52 diluted earnings per share) compared with the year-ago $129-million ($0.80 per share). The 2013 third quarter results included a pre-tax share based payments recovery of $21-million ($0.11 per share), a write-down on our Hanfeng Evergreen Inc. investment of $12-million ($0.08 per share) and a loss of $2-million ($0.01 per share) on natural gas and other hedge positions. Excluding these items, net earnings would have been $73-million ($0.50 per share).

“Agrium’s Retail business unit had one of its strongest third quarters on record, with EBITDA of $147-million. This was driven largely by high usage of crop protection products and related application services in our North American market. The late growing season in North America, combined with uncertainty in the fertilizer markets caused many customers to delay crop nutrient purchases,” commented Mike Wilson, Agrium’s president and CEO.

“Additionally, unplanned lost production due to outages at our Redwater and Carseland facilities reduced product availability in the third quarter and will impact fourth quarter sales volumes. This is expected to impact fourth quarter earnings by approximately $0.20 per share,” added Wilson.

“Despite any short term factors or market fluctuations, we continued to demonstrate our confidence in the ability of the business to generate excess cash flow through the commodity cycle by substantially increasing the dividend in the third quarter and continuing to execute on our share buy-back program,” said Wilson.

Agrium is providing guidance for the fourth quarter of 2013 of $0.80 to $1.25 diluted earnings per share.

Pinnacle Agriculture Holdings LLC, through its subsidiary Jimmy Sanders Inc., announced that it has acquired Acuff Farm Supply in Lubbock County, Texas, Mathis Farm Supply in Melber, Ky., and certain assets of G and C Fertilizer Company Inc. in Lyons, Georgia.

Acuff was founded in 1960 as a full-service farm supply operation providing seed, fertilizer, and crop protection chemicals, as well as various hardware and implement supplies to local growers. Under Sanders ownership, the location will be managed by former Acuff owner, Don Jones, and will remain at its present site in Lubbock. The current employees of Acuff will retain their positions under Sanders ownership.

“This has been a difficult decision for me due to the long-standing relationship with my customers, but I was careful to select only a company who shares similar commitments to their customers and employees,” Jones said. “Sanders patterns their business on four core principles that put the customer first, and that was very important to us. I am pleased not only about the transition of ownership, but also the ability to continue to manage the operations and interact daily with my customers.”

Coupled with an existing Sanders location in Slaton, Texas, the Acuff business will be Sanders’ second retail facility in the Lubbock/Slaton area offering custom fertilizer blends, as well as seed and crop protection products. Both locations also provide precision ag services through Sanders’ proprietary OptiGro system.

“Sanders is very pleased with the recent purchase of this long-established, respected business and welcomes its staff to our family,” said Dane Higgins, Jimmy Sanders area manager. “We are confident that the farmers Acuff has served so well will experience a seamless transition and continue to receive efficient, competitive and timely service.”

Mathis Farm Supply in Kentucky was founded by John Ben Mathis in 1971 as a DeKalb seed corn dealer. In 1984 Mathis’ sons, John and Neal, opened a full-service agricultural retail store at the site offering seed, crop protection products, fertilizer, and custom application. Under Sanders ownership, the facility will be managed by former owner, John Mathis, and will remain at its present location in Melber. Steve Wray and Keith Myers will continue to manage the Mathis sales operations.

“I’m very proud of the business that we have developed over the years. It has come a long way since my father started it in the 1970s,” said Mathis. “My employees and I look forward to the transition to Sanders. We are excited to introduce our customers to the core principles instilled by Sanders, as well as being part of an American-owned company.”

The Mathis location will be Sanders’ fourth in that area, with other retail facilities currently located in Fancy Farm, Mayfield, and Wingo, Ky. All of the locations offer custom fertilizer blends and seed and crop protection products, as well as Sanders’ OptiGro precision ag services. Sanders noted that Mathis has been one of its valued wholesale customers for several years.

“Sanders is very pleased with the recent acquisition of this well-established, respected business and welcomes its staff to our family,” said Chris Drummond, Sanders’ Bluegrass Division manager. “We have enjoyed an excellent working relationship with Mathis Farm Supply for several years, and we are confident that the farmers it served so well will experience a smooth transition and continue to receive efficient, competitive and timely service.”

Sanders’ third recent acquisition, announced in late October, is of the agriculture retail assets associated with Lyons, Ga.-based G and C Fertilizer, dba U.S. #1 Farm Center. U.S. #1 Farm Center was founded in 1969 as a

CF Industries Holdings Inc. reported a 42 percent drop in third quarter earnings attributable to common shareholders to $234.1 million ($4.07 per diluted share) on sales of $1.1 billion compared to the year-ago $403.3 million ($6.35 per share) on sales of $1.36 billion. EDITDA was $477.4 million, down from $729.1 million.

“We faced a challenging global fertilizer market this quarter, but thanks to the strength of our business model we generated nearly $480 million of EBITDA,” said CF Chairman and CEO Stephen Wilson. “The fact that we generated these results in a seasonally slow quarter with floor level global nitrogen prices reflects our competitively strong position on the global nitrogen cost curve.”

Phosphate volumes were up slightly to 526,000 st versus the year-ago 517,000 st, with the company citing an uptick in exports during the quarter.

Nitrogen volumes were off 6 percent to 2.78 million st versus the year-ago.

Prices for both nitrogen and phosphates were weaker.

Nine-month net earnings were $1.14 billion ($19.01 per share) on sales of $4.15 billion, down from the year-ago $1.38 billion ($21.14 per share) on sales of $4.46 billion.

Nine-month nitrogen volumes were 9.38 million st, down from 9.69 million st, while phosphates were 1.44 million st, down from 1.53 million st.

The Mosaic Co. reported third quarter 2013 net earnings of $124 million, compared to $417 million for the same period a year ago. Earnings per diluted share were $0.29 in the quarter compared to $0.98 for the same period last year. Current quarter results included a $142 million, or $0.22 per share, negative impact of notable items, largely non-cash, primarily as a result of strategic decisions to divest assets or operations. Mosaic’s net sales in the third quarter were $1.9 billion, down from $2.6 billion for the same period last year, primarily driven by lower prices and lower North American sales volumes. Operating earnings during the quarter were $144 million, including $123 million in losses from write-down of assets, and were down from $644 million for the same period a year ago.

"Lower potash and phosphate prices, a late North American fall application season and cautious dealer behavior led to this quarter’s weaker results," said Jim Prokopanko, Mosaic and CEO. "We believe the current challenges in the environment in which we operate, for both phosphate and potash, are cyclical in nature and provide Mosaic opportunities to deploy capital, including shareholder distributions. The long-term outlook for Mosaic remains compelling."

Mosaic also announced plans to sell its salt operation and close the small potash mine located at Hersey, Mich.

Koch Industries Inc. has increased its stake in Intrepid Potash Inc. to 6.9 percent, according to Nov. 4 filings with the Securities Exchange Commission. As of Sept. 30, Koch reported that it owned 5.2 million Intrepid shares.

Agrium Inc.’s Redwater, Alberta, ammonia/urea facility (#2 plant) was shut down Oct. 15, 2013, due to a failed waste heat boiler. The facility is expected to be under repair until Nov. 20, 2013. The reduced ammonia availability from Redwater nitrogen is also expected to result in a lower operating rate for Redwater’s phosphate plant for the fourth quarter. The Redwater #2 nitrogen annual plant capacity by product is as follows: 680,000 mt of gross ammonia, 250,000 mt of net ammonia, 720,000 mt of urea, 180,000 mt of nitrogen solutions, 250,000 mt of industrial ammonium nitrate, and 355,000 mt of ammonium sulfate.