Washington-Gardens producing home-grown food, an American favorite from early pioneer days to World War II with the victory gardens, are beginning to experience a revival, according to the American Society of Landscape Architects. A survey conducted by ASLA found that nearly one in five (19.3 percent) of residential landscape architects is replacing part or all of traditional grass lawns with food and vegetable gardens. “Not only do you benefit from fresh produce, but these gardens offer lower maintenance time and utility costs compared to turf grass while substantially increasing the sustainability of a home,” said ASLA President Angela Dye. “Plus, there’s nothing more convenient or sustainable than home-grown food.” And these are not the only signs of another banner year for home vegetable growing, which experienced a spurt in 2007 and 2008. A 2007 survey by the Garden Writers Association in Manassas, Va., found vegetables – after sitting in fourth or fifth place for several years – moving up to second place, after lawns, among types of growing gardeners intended to do. Executive Director Robert LaGasse said he expects the trend to continue. “We’ve seen almost double demand (in seed sales),” said Tracy Lee, director of horticulture at seed company W. Atlee Burpee Co. in Warminster, Penn. “It’s amazing.” Why the new enthusiasm for growing food? Stephanie Turner, director of seed product at Park Seed Co., Greenwood, S.C. believes the economy is part of the reason. Turner says an increase in seed sales is typical when there’s an economic downturn, adding that “people are trying to stay home and beautify what they have and grow their own food.”
U.S. Gulf/Tampa: The market remained quiet last week; however, with higher price ideas in the Black Sea, some players were wondering if those might also find their way to Tampa for March.
Eastern Cornbelt:Anhydrous ammonia pricing remained in the $450-$500/st FOB range, with the low for cash tons out of river locations in Illinois and the upper end reported in Ohio.
Western Cornbelt:The anhydrous ammonia market was pegged at $400-$450/st FOB most regional terminals. Delivered ammonia to points in Missouri remained in the low- to mid-$400s/st from southern production points.
Northern Plains: The ammonia market remained in a broad range at $450-$525/st FOB in the region, depending on location and time of delivery. Agrium’s anhydrous ammonia postings in the Leal, Velva, Grand Forks, and Beulah sales area in North Dakota were slated to move on March 15 to $600/st FOB and $620/st DEL.
Great Lakes:The anhydrous ammonia market was pegged at $450-$550/st FOB, with the upper end reported by Michigan sources and the low by Wisconsin sources FOB Dubuque, Iowa.
Black Sea:Prices are moving up as global demand picks up. Asian sources report Transammonia inked a deal at $250/mt FOB with OPZ. Producers are now saying the starting price for talks is $300/mt FOB.
The increase in area pricing is good news to Ukrainian producers, who mostly remain shut. Industry observers maintain that $320/mt is the break-even cost for the producers. OPZ reportedly can operate because its operations are more efficient than others, said one source.
One observer noted that the recent deal could prompt other producers to begin the process of starting up. The general consensus is that April will show market prices well beyond the producers’ production costs.
The growing global demand for ammonia is moving the price to areas more to the liking of sellers. Buyers, on the other hand, are grumbling about the price increase.
One trader noted that complaints of higher prices need to be tempered with a bit of history. At this time last year, the price was $575/mt FOB.
Middle East:Mitsui closed a deal with Fertil at $259/mt FOB. Producers had been pushing $260/mt FOB early last week and were surprised to get see a deal settle there so quickly.
The new asking price is $300/mt FOB. Nothing has been done at $300/mt FOB, but the close of March should see the first set of sales at that level.
For now, the market is still pegged in the $260s/mt FOB.
Producers say that with the Black Sea price on the rise, their prices should also increase.
The Mitsui tons will most likely go to an Asian buyer. Sources report Asian demand is combining with Indian buying to push the price higher east of the Suez.
Sabic has reportedly backed away from offering a spot cargo of 25,000 mt this month. Sources say the producer took a look at the rising market and decided April would be a better month – from its perspective – to sell.
In general, the area has full order books. India is on a buying spree as phos acid and phos rock deliveries step up. All told, sources say Indian buyers are expected to take about half a million mt during this buying session.
Asia:Demand is up across the board. Sources now report that industrial buyers are beginning to look beyond April for purchases.
Industry observers are still hesitant to declare a complete turnaround in the market, however. Many of the industrial buyers are still taking only what is needed to refill their tanks. No one seems to be ready to sign deals beyond that.
Industrial and fertilizer buyers in South Korea are all clamoring for ammonia. Sources report all the buyers are now operating at 100 percent capacity.
Taiwanese buyers are also back in the market. Taiwan Fertilizer and CPDC are about to revert to their old pattern of keeping a close eye on deliveries.
The two companies share storage facilities in the south of the island. Storage is just enough for each buyer. In the past, deliveries for one arrived just as the tanks were being emptied for the other.
Taiwan Fertilizer just paid $320/mt CFR for a cargo, reportedly from the Black Sea. While the price is higher than what would have been paid a week ago, sources say in the big picture, the rate is “reasonable.”
UREA
U.S. Gulf: Price ideas showed a little strength last week, with sources generally reporting business in the $290-$295/st FOB range, and some eyeing $300/st FOB. Strength, because the week before, some were expecting sub-$290/st was around the corner. There were unconfirmed reports that Koch was again having trouble with its Enid plant, and some surmised that this was reason enough for prices to firm.
Eastern Cornbelt: Fieldwork was limited in the region because of wet conditions, but sources reported some wheat topdressing and dry spreading activity where field and weather conditions allowed it. The granular urea market remained at $355-$365/st FOB regional terminals for cash tons to the dealer.
Western Cornbelt: The granular urea market remained at $350-$365/st FOB to the dealer out of most regional shipping points. There were reports that Koch’s Enid, Okla., urea plant was back down last week after coming online earlier in the month.
Northern Plains: Granular urea remained at $365-$385/st FOB regional terminals, with the upper numbers reported in South Dakota and the low FOB the Twin Cities to the dealer. Effective March 15, Agrium’s granular urea postings will move to $410/st FOB North Dakota terminals at Alton, Carrington, Colfax, Marion, and Scranton, and $415/st rail-DEL in the Dakotas, Minnesota and Wisconsin.
Great Lakes: Michigan sources said fields were wet or still laden with frost, so field activities were minimal. Several areas of the state saw some wheat topdressing activity prior to last week’s precipitation. Wisconsin sources also reported spotty fieldwork and dry spreading activity on frozen ground earlier in March, but activity was stalled last week.
One source said he expects a normal crop mix in his location, but fertilizer usage will be down. “All volumes will be off for spring for the most part due to reduced rates,” he said. “They’ll put something on, but if it was 200 pounds before, maybe it’ll be 150 or 100 this year. It’s the economics of everything. It’s just the way it is.”
The granular urea market was tagged at $365-$395/st FOB, with the low in Wisconsin and the high reflecting the published price to the dealer in Michigan. One Wisconsin source also quoted delivered urea at the $380/st level last week.
Northeast: The granular urea market was quoted at $350-$360/st FOB, with most dealer quotes reported at the $355/st mark FOB Baltimore. Sources pegged delivered urea in the $380-$387/st range in Delaware and Pennsylvania.
Pakistan: TCP closed a tender for 50,000 mt March 7 with 12 companies participating. Even as this tender closed, TCP called another tender March 9 for 25,000 mt. The closing date of the tender is confusing.
The original documents posted on the TCP site said the tender would close April 20. Media reports late last week indicated a closing date of March 20. As Green Markets went to press, the original documents were withdrawn from the web site.
Sources say the March 20 date makes more sense.
The apparent winner in the just-closed tender is Template.
Asian sources were not familiar with the company. However, its offer of $298/mt CFR was too good for TCP to pass up.
Reportedly, TCP went to the other companies offering in the tender to see if any would match the Template price. Sources say no one was willing to step up and cut their prices any further.
TCP tender results
Offering Company
Quantity (mt)
Origin
G/P
US$/mt CFR
Remarks
Template
25,000
Russia
P
298.00
Per Tender
Keytrade
35-40,000 Firm 35-40,000 Opt.
Open
S/O
321.95 318.85
Per Tender April
Helm
30,000
Open
S/O
326.90
Per Tender
Transfert
42,000 Firm 25,000 Opt.
Open
S/O
332.00
Per Tender
Dreymoor
25-30,000 Firm 25-30,000 Opt.
CIS-Russia Open
S/O
333.00
Per Tender
Swiss Singapore
25-30,000 Firm 25-30,00 Opt.
Open
S/O
338.70
Per Tender
Sabic
30,000
Saudi Arabia
S/O
339.00
Per Tender
Transammonia
25-40,000
Open
S/O
339.33
Per Tender
Multicommerce
30,000
Black Sea – Middle East – Open
S/O
342.00
Per Tender
Havi Ocean
25,000
Ukraine – Russia
P
344.00
Per Tender
Emirates Trading
25,000
Open
P
356.27
Per Tender
One more company, Midlink, came in with an offer of 25,000 mt at $310/mt CFR. For reasons unexplained, TCP rejected the offer.
By the end of last week, sources were still waiting to hear official word of Template’s winning. Sources say it is unusual for TCP to take so long to snap up a deal in an apparent down market.
Some of the delay may be attributed to turmoil in the Pakistan government and within TCP itself.
According to local media reports, the government directed TCP to not accept any more offers until the commerce ministry issues its approval.
The action is to ensure all the rules are being followed, an unnamed TCP official told one newspaper.
According to the reports, complaints were leveled against TCP for favoring too many “blue-eyed” parties. The complaints include charges that TCP may have been paying too much to import fertilizer and other commodities.
Another unnamed official complained to the press of the decision. He said the move indicated the ministry did not trust TCP to carry out its job in a fair and transparent manner.
At the same time, the government named a new head for TCP.
Last Monday the prime minister named Saeed Khan as the new TCP chairman. Khan moved into his new office Tuesday.
Government officials are quoted as saying once Khan settles in, the restrictions placed on TCP making contracts will be lifted.
Middle East: Sabic appeared anxious to show that it was willing, once again, to be an upward price leader.
The Sabic offer in the TCP/Pakistan tender came in at $339/mt CFR. Once freight and handling are taken off, sources say the netback would have been about $320-$330/mt FOB.
The low end of that range is where Sabic once said it would start negotiations. But that was before it offered 60,000 mt at $322/mt CFR.
One source opined that Sabic low-balled the number to guarantee it had a full order book and no reserves in stock so it could argue for higher prices later.
Unfortunately for Sabic, Asian sources say the price has not moved as it wanted.
The current price is pegged at $300-$310/mt FOB, with a couple of bucks extra for prompt granular.
On the plus side for the producers, they can look with joy at the removal of the last of the tons in the $290s/mt FOB. On the negative side, all that happened was the lower price in the range moved up. Little happened on the upper end of the range.
Black Sea: Producers were hoping to keep riding a wave of price increases based on the Pakistan business and rumors of the return of Indian buyers. Unfortunately for the producers, the price slid last week.
As the market moved to get past $280/mt FOB and producers talking $290-$300/mt FOB, sources now report the week closed with deals in the mid-$270s/mt FOB.
One depressing factor on the prices seemed to be the Template offer into Pakistan at $298/mt CFR. One trader noted that the pricing idea producers want can only be seen if Template got a freight rate of $18/mt – a price no one would believe.
With the Pakistan business and what appears to be a softening global market, sources now put the Black Sea price at $270-$280/mt FOB.
India: People keep waiting for India to come in. One trader noted that only the re-entrance of India to the market can move urea prices back up. Until MMTC, IPL, or STC steps in, sources say prices in Yuzhnyy and the Middle East will continue to slide.
NITROGEN SOLUTIONS
Eastern Cornbelt: Illinois sources tagged the UAN market as low as $7.60-$8.00/unit FOB terminals for spot tons, down slightly from last report. Elsewhere in the region, the UAN-32 market was reported at $265-$275/st ($8.28-$8.59/unit) FOB to the dealer.
Western Cornbelt: UAN-32 remained at $250-$280/st ($7.81-$8.75/unit) FOB regional terminals to the dealer, with the low out of spot Mississippi River locations.
Northern Plains: The UAN market remained at $8.75-$9.60/unit FOB regional terminals, with the upper end reflecting reference prices for cash tons FOB Winona, Minn. Sources said spring prepay UAN-28 could still be sourced at Winona for $274.40/st ($9.80/unit) FOB last week.
Great Lakes: UAN pricing covered a wide range. Wisconsin sources pegged the market as low as $8.00/unit FOB terminals for spot tons to the dealer, while Michigan sources quoted reference prices for UAN-28 at $255-$260/st ($9.11-$9.29/unit) FOB to the dealer. One supplier was also referencing UAN-28 prepay in Wisconsin at the $274.40/st ($9.80/unit) FOB level in early March.
Northeast: UAN-30 was down just slightly from last report. Sources tagged the market at $245-$255/st ($8.17-$8.50/unit) FOB terminals, with most pegging the Baltimore market at the $250/st ($8.33/unit) FOB mark, give or take. Out of terminals in upstate New York, the UAN-32 market was quoted at $305/st ($9.50/unit) FOB to the dealer.
AMMONIUM NITRATE
Western Cornbelt: Ammonium nitrate was steady at $275-$305/st FOB in the region, with the upper end in Missouri.
AMMONIUM SULFATE
Eastern Cornbelt: Granular ammonium sulfate was reported at $210-$235/st FOB in the region, reflecting another increase from last report. Sources said steel mill grade sulfate was hard to get in early March, as was granular product from some suppliers.
Western Cornbelt: Granular ammonium sulfate was quoted at $205-$245/st FOB in the region.
Northern Plains: Granular ammonium sulfate was reported at $215-$235/st DEL in the region, depending on location and supplier. Agrium’s reference price for granular ammonium sulfate firmed on March 1 to $235/st DEL in North Dakota, Minnesota, and Wisconsin.
Great Lakes: Granular ammonium sulfate was pegged at $225/st FOB in Michigan, up significantly from last report. Wisconsin sources quoted delivered granular sulfate in a wide range at $210-$255/st, with the upper end reflecting new postings from some regional suppliers. Agrium’s reference price for granular ammonium sulfate firmed on March 1 to $235/st DEL in Wisconsin.
Northeast: The granular ammonium sulfate market was quoted at $175-$180/st FOB and $194-$206/st DEL in the region, up from last report.
PHOSPHATE
Central Florida: Wet weather in the eastern Midwest and Northeast put a damper on farmers’ thoughts of beginning to prepare their fields for planting, as spring put off its debut last week. Hopes for an early spring sank, as did opportunities for a quick break on sales. In Florida, crops were well underway, but a lack of rain created a high risk of fire.
Phosphate production was essentially unchanged – CF was running full bore, PCS was down at White Springs, and Mosaic was essentially unchanged from the previous week, which was unclear then but up from January.
DAP and urea were expected to do well this season, but sources said potash sales were slow.
Phosphate prices in Central Florida were firmer last week, as cheaper cargos were no longer available. The Central Florida DAP price range was slightly lower on the top end of the range of the previous week’s $315-$325/st FOB and moved to a firm range of $315-$320/st FOB last week. PCS Sales had no published price. Mosaic’s price was $315/st FOB for DAP and $325/st FOB for MAP. CF was at $320/st FOB for DAP and $20/st FOB higher for MAP. The price from Agrifos remained at $350/st FOB for trucks and $345/st FOB for rail shipments.
U.S. Gulf: NOLA DAP barge sales on the river slowed last week due to weather that cooperated with no one. Areas that were already far too dry were generally skipped by the heavy clouds, while areas that were too wet got even more rain, snow, or ice. As a result, not much got done.
On the Arkansas River, sales of DAP fell off drastically because of a lack of rain, which has caused problems in areas of Oklahoma and Texas. However, some areas of Texas, such as Dallas and Fort Worth, did get a relatively heavy dose of water. Farther north, the opposite was the problem. The northern areas will have to see some dry weather before farmers can work the fields.
Corn remained the key to phosphate sales, as usual. The board price for December was over $4/bushel, which makes the crop worthwhile as long as fertilizer and/or fuel prices do not begin to shoot up. The longer the market remains in slow mode, the greater the chance of price deterioration. Meanwhile, warehouse prices were essentially stable last week.
Locks on the Mississippi were all open by late last week, but Lake Pepin south of St. Paul still had ice conditions, which could be a threat to barge traffic in the area. Barges were in place to begin making the trip north.
The lowest-priced sales were made on Tuesday by a trader seeking to remove the threat of demurrage fees, which would have been higher than the small loss on the deals. Those DAP barges sold for $315/st FOB. Others who moved barges did so at $318/st FOB.
The NOLA DAP barge price range for last week was down from $318-$325/st FOB the previous week to $315-$318/st FOB. Expect that range to rebound to higher numbers before the end of the month.
Eastern Cornbelt: DAP pricing out of river warehouses continued to be quoted in the $365-$385/st FOB range in the region, with some warehouses in Ohio referenced at the $400/st FOB mark on the upper end. MAP was $10/st higher than DAP. 10-34-0 pricing remained in a broad range at $650-$750/st FOB in the region, with the low in Illinois.
Western Cornbelt: DAP was steady at $360-$375/st FOB most regional warehouses to the dealer, with MAP at $375-$385/st FOB. The 10-34-0 market was quoted at $575-$650/st FOB range in the region, reflecting a drop from last report.
Northern Plains: DAP remained at $370-$385/st FOB the Twin Cities, with MAP $10-$15/st higher. 10-34-0 was quoted at $650-$730/st FOB in Minnesota, with the upper end reported for spring prepay.
Effective March 1, Agrium’s phosphoric acid postings firmed to $1,050/st rail-DEL in Minnesota and the Dakotas for both super phosphoric acid (SPA) and merchant grade acid (MGA). Simplot also reposted phos acid on March 1 to $10.50/unit DEL in the Midwest.
Great Lakes: DAP remained in a broad range at $365-$435/st FOB regional warehouses, with the low in southern Wisconsin and the high in Michigan. MAP was $10/st higher than DAP. One Wisconsin source pegged delivered DAP at the $380/st mark in early March.
10-34-0 remained in a broad range at $730-$900/st FOB to the dealer, with the low in Wisconsin for spring prepay tons and the upper end quoted in Michigan to the dealer.
Northeast: MAP was pegged at $405-$410/st FOB Philadelphia to the dealer, with DAP roughly $15/st less. One Delaware source quoted delivered DAP at the $398-$403/st level to his location, while a Pennsylvania dealer pegged delivered MAP at $412/st last week.
10-34-0 remained at $990/st FOB the tank in upstate New York. In Pennsylvania, delivered 10-34-0 was reported in a broad range at $975-$1,100/st, depending on supplier.
U.S. Export: PhosChem made a sale of 30,000 mt of MAP into Brazil at $375/mt FOB last week, and the export market appeared ready for takeoff. Prices have been slowly rising since January, and that trend will likely continue as the season progresses.
India, of course, remained a promising market, and Africa, Asia, and Latin America were showing considerably more interest. Russia was said to be making offers to customers in Brazil and Asia, but no information on sales was available.
The export DAP price range last week moved up from $367-$380/mt FOB to $375-$380/mt FOB. Expect prices to gradually work their way up during the next couple of months.
Pakistan: The country will require about 560,000 mt of DAP to meet demands in the 2009 Kharif season (April-Sept). According to the latest estimates of the National Fertilizer Development Centre (NFDC), with 298,000 mt opening inventory and 330,000 mt domestic production, about 628,000 mt of DAP would be available against the estimated 560,000 mt demand. Hence, NFDC is projecting no need for imports during this period.
POTASH
Eastern Cornbelt: Sources pegged the potash market in the $680-$750/st FOB range in the region from brokers or resellers, with the low reported in Illinois on a spot basis. That number reflected a slight drop from the previous level.
Western Cornbelt: Potash out of regional warehouses was pegged at the $680-$750/st FOB range to the dealer, depending on grade and location, with several sources quoting the $700/st level as a common dealer price from secondary sources.
Northern Plains: Potash pricing FOB Saskatchewan mines remained at reference levels of $767/st FOB for standard, $780/st FOB for soluble, $772/st FOB for granular, and $780/st FOB for white granular. Delivered potash in the region was reported at $800-$850/st, depending on location and supplier.
Great Lakes: Potash was pegged as low as $715/st FOB in Wisconsin from brokers or resellers, while Michigan sources quoted dealer reference pricing at $815/st FOB for red granular and $823/st FOB for white. Michigan sources also talked of spot tons from some secondary suppliers for as low as $750/st FOB last week, however, and there were even reports of some retailers quoting direct-to-grower pricing at the $750/st level last week.
Northeast: Potash was quoted at $800-$840/st FOB regional warehouses, down slightly from last report, with the low FOB Lancaster, Pa., and the upper end reflecting the dealer reference FOB Baltimore. Delivered potash pricing was also down from last report. The low end of the range was reported at $790-$800/st DEL, with the bottom of that range quoted by a Pennsylvania source for tons from E. Liverpool, Ohio.
SULFUR
Tampa: The sulfur situation appeared to be taking a swing away from far more supply than demand, as a result of a number of factors. Probably the most important was a dwindling supply, due to decreased refinery production. In order to get prepared for the summer driving season, some refineries were in the process of conducting turnarounds. In addition, more were using sweet crude instead of the heavy sour stuff, which meant less sulfur as a byproduct. Several were also hit with unexpected problems and shutdowns.
An electrical short apparently caused a compressor to trip at Shell’s 340,000 barrel-per-day refinery at Deer Park, Texas. A Hunt plant in Alabama went offline shortly before it was scheduled to begin a turnaround, and did not have a chance to build stocks before an incident caused the outage. Valero’s Delaware City refinery remained out of service last week.
A source said the blocking facility at Galveston was not nearly as full as had been reported, and still had close to 60 percent of capacity to reach its maximum. Another source said landfilling of some sulfur was on the decline.
At the same time, the phosphate industry has increased its production during the past month although it remained well below capacity, and industrial customers were increasing their demand. Still, excess sulfur remains, but it appeared a shift was beginning to take place. If that trend continues, prices may rise for the next quarter.
One source complained that contracts were becoming meaningless in some cases, and prices have changed after terms have been agreed upon. That situation could become a problem for both buyers and sellers in the future.
For a change, transportation was beginning to be a plus rather than a problem. Railcars were being freed up and trucks were far more available and at better prices than in the recent past. The sagging economy and lower diesel prices were cited as causes.
Vancouver: Although discussions on new semester contracts between Canadian suppliers and Brazilian customers were ongoing last week, no new agreement had been reached. Currently, the contracts call for Brazil to pay as much as $200/mt, but buyers in that country were seeking a new price of $40/mt or lower in the new terms.
Meanwhile, sulfur movement out of Vancouver was said to be good last week, and spot prices were stabilizing between the mid $30/mt FOB and $40/mt FOB.
MARKET NOTES
India: Tata Chemicals reports the successful debottlenecking of its Babrala facility. As a result, ammonia capacity moved from 1,520 mt/d to 2,000 mt/d, and urea from 2,620 mt/d to 3,500 mt/d.
Agrium Inc. has made several management announcements. Gordon Miller has decided to retire from his current role as manager, West region, and as an officer of Agrium. He has been with the Crop Production Services division for over 37 years, and recently received the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Western Plant Health Association. Miller also served on the boards of directors for the California Fertilizer Association, Western Growers and Tenkoz, and was also chairman of the Tenkoz board.
Agrium offered Bill Boycott an executive role, but Agrium said that for personal reasons he has made the difficult decision to leave the company due to an inability to relocate at this time. Boycott has held the position of Agrium vice president and president of Agrium Advanced Technologies for the past three years. Before moving to AAT, he was with the Wholesale division as general manager of Agrium’s Kenai Nitrogen Operations. He brought to Agrium more than 23 years of experience in operations management and business and commercial development in the United States and Canada.
Stephen Dyer will assume the role of manager, West region, within Crop Production Services, and will remain an officer of Agrium. He will relocate to Fresno and will report to Tom Warner, vice president, Retail distribution. Dyer has over 18 years with Agrium and its predecessor companies, most recently as vice president, Wholesale manufacturing.
The selection process for a new vice president, manufacturing, is still in progress, and a replacement will be announced in due course.
Andrew Mittag has accepted the role of senior vice president, Agrium, and president, Agrium Advanced Technologies. He brings to this role over 25 years of experience in business development, investment banking and corporate business. Most recently, Mittag held the position of senior vice president, corporate development and strategy with Agrium; president and CFO with the Rockland Capital Partners; and senior vice president, corporate strategy and development with Koch Industries.
Leslie O’Donoghue will assume the position of chief legal officer and senior vice president, business development. She will take on the added responsibility of managing Agrium’s corporate development and strategy function. O’Donoghue, who has over nine years of experience with Agrium, will maintain her executive responsibilities for the company’s legal affairs, internal audit, and environmental, health, safety and security, and corporate governance.
Apache Nitrogen Products Inc. has announced the promotion of Andrew Hunter to the position of vice president and chief financial officer. At the February 2009 board of directors meeting, he was recognized for his significant contribution to Apache’s success over the past ten plus years. The integrity of the company’s financial systems, quality of production, and inventory planning, as well as the success of the agricultural business, were key areas of recognition cited by the board related to his contribution.
BASF Professional Vegetation Management (ProVM) has promoted Philip Donahoo to product manager, responsible for industrial vegetation markets. He has served as a senior sales specialist for the BASF Turf and Ornamentals group for five years, and has seven years of experience as a golf course superintendent, where he was responsible for vegetation management. As ProVM product manager, Donahoo will oversee the group’s go-to-market strategy and business programming for industrial vegetation products. He will also manage aspects of business and sales direction, and pricing the products in the industrial vegetation portfolio.
The International Fertilizer Industry Association (IFA) has announced the winner of the 2009 IFA International Crop Nutrition Award is Dr. André Bationo, the director of the West Africa program of the Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA), which is based in Accra, Ghana. He is also senior program officer of AGRA’s soil health program. This award recognizes his contribution to soil fertility research and development in Sub-Saharan Africa, particularly his efforts to promote research in the field of efficient, balanced, and environment-friendly fertilization.
Oslo-Yara International ASA said March 12 that it has decided to seek financing in the Norwegian bond market. Yara is offering investors a three-year variable rate bond and a five-year fixed and/or variable rate bond. The purpose of the issue is general company financing.
Saskatoon-Australian giant BHP Billiton has asked the Province of Saskatchewan for permission to construct the world’s largest potash mine, according to the Canadian press. The mine would be located west of Saskatoon. Potash production could start as early as 2015 and achieve full production of 8 million mt/y by 2026. Government approval is reportedly not expected until the spring of 2011. BHP has been eyeing such a project for some time and last year bought all of the shares of Anglo Potash Ltd., which had been developing a potash project (GM July 14, 2008).
Irving, Texas-While Exxon Mobil is seeking to remove an old potash legal decree (page 12) that prevents it from buying Potash Co. of America or its successor (PotashCorp), attorneys for Exxon Mobil told Green Markets last week that the company has no interest in buying PotashCorp. “This is purely administrative. Exxon has a policy of trying to eliminate old judicial decrees from its books. That is all,” according to an Exxon Mobil attorney. PotashCorp bought PCA several years ago (GM Archives).
Boise-The Idaho Department of Environmental Quality has issued a revised construction permit to Agrium Inc.’s Nu-West Conda Phosphate Operations for its gypsum stacks seven miles north of Soda Springs, in Southeast Idaho’s Caribou County. The permit revises requirements for construction of the new West Gypsum Stack II or a phosphogypsum settling pond, clarifying pond surface size requirements, emissions limits, and monitoring requirements for the plant’s gypsum stacks. Mike Simon, an IDEQ official in its air quality division, informed Plant Manager Eric Vettergren of the decision in a Feb. 20 letter. The revised permit is based on Nu-West’s Dec. 24 application to replace a permit issued in December 2007. “This permit does not release Nu-West Industries Inc. from compliance with all other applicable federal, state or local laws, regulations, permits or ordinances,” Simon wrote, noting it also does not contravene any existing Tier I operating permit conditions. Construction and operation notification also must be provided, he said. The permit will expire if construction has not begun within two years of its issue date, or if construction is suspended for one year. When the new gypsum stack is completed, the combined fluoride emissions from the three 125-acre gypsum stacks shall not exceed 200 pounds per day or 14.6 tons per any consecutive rolling 12-month period. Before it is finished, combined fluoride emissions from the two existing gypsum stacks shall not exceed 200 pounds per day or 36.5 tons per any consecutive rolling 12-month period. The new gypsum stack shall include placing at least two feet of compacted phosphogypsum atop the composite liner membrane and compacted clay to ensure adequate liner integrity. At that point process water will be introduced, and when fully displaced by gypsum slurry in both cells, the construction process shall be deemed complete.
Atlanta-Proposed legislation to impose financial restrictions on land application system operators seeking permits to apply biosolids for fertilizer is dead, at least for this session of the state general assembly, according to its sponsor. “I don’t have enough time to get it out of committee and on to the House floor by this week,” Rep. Tommy Benton told Green Markets. Benton’s House Bill 238 would require – in the name of water pollution control – proof of sufficient finances to conduct an environmental cleanup if required. That, according to Benton, would mean either purchasing an insurance bond or depositing cash in reserves equal to the cost of the cleanup. Applicators have voiced strong opposition to both stipulations. Benton said he was advised by the chairwoman of the House natural resources committee to hold the bill for more study during the coming year and consider it in the 2010 session. Recent incidents in the state have alleged biosolid liability. The University of Georgia is in a federal lawsuit over damage caused by sludge applied to two Augusta-area dairy farms. The suit says the farmers relied on faulty UG research. The city of Augusta settled a suit with one farmer and lost another because it was the source of sludge, which was found to contain toxins responsible for killing the farmers’ cows.
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