Koch Fertilizer (KF) is building a 2-million-gallon ammonium thiosulfate (ATS) terminal at its Fort Dodge facility to support growing demand. With the additional storage and loading capacity, KF said it will be able to supply more customers throughout the Corn Belt with ATS produced by Koch affiliate, Flint Hills Resources. KF markets 100 percent of the ATS Flint Hills Resources produces at its Pine Bend refinery, approximately 100,000 st/y.
A train that derailed and caught fire Sunday afternoon in Sibley, Iowa, is set to cause delays of up to three days for Union Pacific Corp. customers with shipments in that area, according to a notice from the company, released May 17. There’s no time line currently for when they’ll be able to clear the 47 affected cars off the tracks and clear the site, according to Union Pacific spokeswoman Kristen South, according to a Bloomberg report. The rail route through the middle of crop country hosts trains carrying “anything and everything,” from agricultural products to lumber to chemicals, she said. However, she said that while a car had carried liquid ammonium nitrate, it was empty at the time of the incident. Initial reports warned that ammonium nitrate was carried by the train.
Rashtriya Chemicals & Fertilizers called a urea tender to close May 25. The shipping deadline is June 30, just a bit more than a week after the shipping deadline for the MMTC tender. The rapid call of the tender confirmed reports that India is expected to fall short of its urea needs following the previous two tenders, which only brought in 1.35 million mt. Sources said RCF will be looking for at least 1 million mt. However, the rising prices in the urea market – Egypt now at $375/mt FOB and the Arab Gulf at $365/mt FOB – could make the large purchase difficult for the Indian treasury.
