AMMONIA
AMMONIA
U.S. Gulf/Tampa: There was nothing new to report on these markets last week, except that forthcoming negotiations for April are now expected to be more contentious. Buyers are reportedly sensing weakness in nitrogen products overall, and see no reason why theirs ?Çô ammonia ?Çô should be any different.
Eastern Cornbelt: Ammonia pricing out of regional terminals continued to be reported in the $415-$425/st FOB range to the dealer for spot tons. Sources continued to report little if any fieldwork taking place in the region due to wet field conditions, and little new buying activity to test the markets.
Western Cornbelt: Anhydrous ammonia remained at $375-$410/st FOB regional terminals, with the low in Nebraska and the upper numbers out of Missouri and Iowa terminals. Sources reported no ammonia movement taking place yet in the region, and no new sales to test the market.
One central Missouri source talked of “knee-deep mud” in his location last week, so fieldwork was on the backburner. Some fertilizer applications were going down on grass in parts of southern Missouri last week thanks to 60-degree temperatures and sunshine, but wet weather was once again in store for the weekend.
Southern Plains: The ammonia market was quoted at $325-$360/st FOB in the Southern Plains, with the low out of regional production points and the upper end out of pipeline terminals. Dealers were starting to see some fertilizer movement on wheat and preplant ground at mid-month, but many areas remained wet. “It’s not like what you’d expect for mid-March,” said one contact.
Black Sea: The lack of excitement in the market is holding prices in the $380s/mt FOB. The industry seems to be waiting to see what happens in the April talks for Tampa deliveries.
Sources report the Ukrainian plants are still not back online. One trader said the stagnation of the market might be making the producers nervous about opening and then flooding the market with more material and lowering the price.
Middle East: Arab producers remain fully booked. The only cloud on their pricing horizon is the repeatedly lower prices offered by Iran. One source noted that every time the producers see an opportunity to move the price up, Iran makes a deal that undercuts that effort. One producer representative said earlier this month that the price could have gone past $400/mt FOB if it were not for Iran.
An Iranian cargo picked up by Yara earlier this month is now bound for Northwest Europe. Sources figure Yara will use the material in its own system rather than offer it on the spot market.
Asia: The Mitsui KPA plant in Indonesia remained down last week for routine maintenance. Sources estimate the plant will begin re-start procedures this week. Once the KPA facility is back to full operation, industry observers expect to see the Mitsubishi KPI plant go down for maintenance. Only rarely are the two facilities down at the same time. Often the two companies will engage in swap deals while one plant is down.
The demand for ammonia in the rest of Asia remains strong. South Korean and Taiwanese buyers continue to ask for as many tons as suppliers can send.
UREA
UREA
U.S. Gulf: While some sellers were quoting $318/st FOB last week, sources were reporting actual trades within the $314-$317/st FOB range. As with other nitrogens, large buyers want to see more inland movement before they start buying barge quantities.
Eastern Cornbelt: The granular urea market was quoted at $350-$365/st FOB in the region.
Western Cornbelt: Granular urea was pegged at $345-$365/st FOB in the regi
Keith Hyry, 69, passed away March 1. An outspoken member of the fertilizer industry for over 30 years, he will be missed by many. Hyry began his career in sales for Armor Star in the early 1960’s, and then joined USS Agri Chemicals in Illinois and Kansas through the 1970’s. When USS Ag Chem was purchased by LaRoche Industries Inc., he moved to their headquarters in Atlanta. Hyry retired from LaRoche in 1993 and opened a U.S. office for V.T.I. Fertasco as North American distributor for Nevinomyssk production. When V.T.I. assets were purchased by EuroChem, Hyry helped open their North American office. He retired from the fertilizer industry in 2006, alternating his time between Everglades City, Fla., and Lake of the Woods, Minn.
Mineral exploration company Altius Minerals Corp., St. John’s, Newfoundland, reports that its board of directors has accepted a letter of resignation from Roland Butler, director, vice president, and COO, from all Altius positions so that he can pursue other interests. The company said Butler is a co-founder of Altius and has been integral to its mineral exploration and project generation strategy development and implementation, as well as commercial and community relationships at the company since it was listed in 1997.
Altius said Dr. Lawrence Winter, vice president, exploration, has worked closely with Butler and will be expanding his role as the company moves forward.
Colin Bletsky has been appointed to global business development director for Novozymes Biologicals BioAg Group, Saskatoon, Sask. He has over 13 years of experience in agriculture, and for the last nine years has taken progressively more senior roles in the crop protection industry. He will oversee the identification, prioritization, acquisition, and development of new opportunities for Novozymes’ BioAg Group on a global basis.
MagIndustries Corp., Toronto, reports that it has received a statement of claim filed by Willy Verbrugghe, a former CEO of its MagMinerals Potasse Congo SA, in the Ontario Superior Court of Justice. It relates to a wrongful dismissal of Verbrugghe by Mag and MagMinerals Potash Corp. The damages requested are C$2 million. Mag said it was unaware of any fact or circumstance that would support the claims being made by Verbrugghe regarding the company’s activities in the Republic of Congo and the company’s dealing with its shareholders and third parties, and believes that the claim is completely without merit.
Verbrugghe joined Mag in 2008, and his employment continued at least into 2009. Mag had not responded to inquiries at press time.
Washington-The Federal Maritime Commission is starting an investigation of tight vessel capacity that ocean importers and exporters say is hindering their ability to compete in global markets, the commission announced Wednesday. The FMC named Commissioner Rebecca Dye to lead the non-judicial fact-finding mission. The announcement came as a House Transportation maritime subcommittee heard testimony from shippers and ocean carriers about the state of the industry, which has seen an increase in rates along with continuing complaints from U.S. exporters – principally in the agriculture sector – that they are unable to get containers to get goods to overseas markets. The FMC said it is conducting the fact-finding in response to President Obama’s national export initiative, with a goal to double exports in five years and create 2 million jobs. An executive order on March 11 directs the use of “every available federal resource” in support of the initiative. The fact-finding order gives Dye authority to call hearings, subpoena records, and order reports. Preliminary recommendations are due June 15, with a final report to be submitted July 31.
Bradenton, Fla.-PepsiCo has called upon Yara International ASA and Toronto-based Outlook Resources to find a greener fertilizer to reduce the carbon footprint of growing oranges for its popular Tropicana product. The world-wide soft drink giant first thought transportation was the culprit, but later concluded that a large part came from natural gas-produced nitrogen. Both fertilizer producers are testing their product in the same Florida orange grove. Yara has a calcium-based fertilizer, but no details are available. Toronto-based Outlook Resources is testing an organic formula that in some cases utilizes orange peels from a nearby process plant. “It’s two very different approaches to a low carbon fertility product,” explained Ash Seha, Outlook Resources vice president of business development. “The feedstock for ours is organic material from a number of different inputs, allowing for sort of a flux going through development including agriculture wastes and what is available locally. It could be manures of different sorts … chicken litter or cow manure, or it could be food wastes, depending on what is available and what is the need for the fertilizer.” Seha said Outlook Resources strives to obtain source materials as close as possible to the location where they will be used, which means a further reduction in the carbon footprint. He said the pilot project started with the growing season in mid-February, and the first results will be available within the next 90 days when “we take a look at the budding of the plant.” Sandro Pippobello, director of premium offerings for Yara North America, said, “We’ve been using our new environmental technology to produce lower-carbon fertilizers with great success. In addition to our fertilizer production technology, we’re excited to bring our expertise in plant nutrition to a project that has the potential to both improve agricultural practices associated with orange production and make a positive contribution to growers’ profitability. With PepsiCo’s support, we have an opportunity to make significant breakthroughs in several critical areas ?Çô the environment, crop quality, and profitability.”
Saskatoon-PotashCorp is donating US$300,000 to the Canadian Red Cross for its Chile Earthquake Fund. “Twice in the span of two months we have witnessed just how quickly lives and communities can be devastated,” said Bill Doyle, President and CEO of PotashCorp. “As a global company, we know it is vital to provide aid in times of crisis and to prepare for the rebuilding that follows. Our thoughts and condolences go to our Chilean friends during this difficult time.” PotashCorp has a commercial interest in Chile through its 32 percent ownership of Sociedad Química y Minera S.A. (SQM), based in Santiago. SQM is the world’s leading producer of specialty plant nutrition products, lithium and iodine. Its operations and facilities were unaffected by the earthquake.
New York City-The New York Department of Environmental Protection (NYDEP) won’t be shipping any of the sewage sludge produced at city wastewater treatment plants to a facility at Hunts Point for processing into fertilizer pellets, and residents there couldn’t be happier. Ending that contract may not be the final blow to the plant operated by New York Organic Fertilizer Co. (NYOFCO), which is part of Synagro Technologies, but community leaders hoped it would be the beginning of the end to the source of foul odors and years of citizen complaints. The Natural Resources Defense Council has sued the plant on behalf of a community group called Mothers on the Move, along with 10 local residents. Last year, New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo also filed a public-nuisance lawsuit against the company. Bronx Borough President Ruben Diaz Jr. praised the NYDEP decision as a cause for rejoicing. “The decision by DEP to no longer process its sludge at the NYOFCO plant in Hunts Point is worthy of celebration as a major step towards building a cleaner and greener Bronx. The health, well-being and quality of life of Hunts Point residents, and in fact all Bronxites, will no longer be compromised by incompetent industrial operations. Hunts Point residents are glad that, after years of complaining about foul, noxious odors, their long-time activism has resulted in the city refusing to renew its contract with NYOFCO, bringing us one step closer to removing NYOFCO and its disgusting emissions from their neighborhood entirely,” Diaz declared. He said without the city contract he hopes NYOFCO will be forced to abandon its operations in Hunts Point. There was no response from Synagro at either its regional office in Connecticut or the home office in Houston. But Mark McCormick, one of the top Synagro officials in the area, told the local press they were still hoping to find a resolution with the city. “We’re going to reach out to the city and see what we can do short of terminating the contract,” he said, noting that the plant employs about 50 people. “At this point, we’re open to discussing anything to help them out, whether it’s volume or price or other ways we can help work with each other.”
Urbana, Ill.-University of Illinois (UI) agriculture scientists believe it may be possible to “teach” corn to fix its own nitrogen. In an emerging area of engineering called synthetic biology, combining science and engineering to design and build or “synthesize” novel biological functions and systems, many scientists believe it may be possible to control biological systems to increase food supplies, produce energy, enhance human health, protect the environment, and more. “We now understand enough about how genes work and how proteins are produced that we can actually think about reprogramming how living cells work,” according to Kaustubh Bhalerao, an assistant professor in UI’s Department of Agricultural and Biological Engineering. “On one hand, it sounds intimidating. But on the other hand, there are tremendous benefits that may be possible by doing this.” Bhalerao’s research focuses on building systems in which bacteria “behave like amplifiers.” Bhalerao said the equivalence of an amplifier inside bacteria has been developed. The bacteria sense the presence of an amino acid in their environment and produce a protein in response. A positive feedback mechanism in the gene circuit amplifies the production of that protein. By using bacterial amplifiers, the systems become more sensitive. “Because of the amplifier, bacterial biosensors can detect concentrations much lower than would have been possible otherwise. In a system designed to produce a particular molecule or chemical, much larger output levels can be generated,” he said. A specific application being investigated is the design of a system that enables nitrogen fixing bacteria to communicate with the root systems of corn plants.
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