All Posts from July 23, 2021

Fertoz Starts Fernie Mining Operations; Carbon Reduction Adds to Organic Argument

Australia, Canada, News, News Briefs, Phosphate Rock, Specialty

Fertoz Ltd., an Australian-based organic fertilizer supplier and developer that owns the Wapiti and Fernie rock phosphate projects in British Columbia, will start mining operations at Fernie this month due to contracts and/or orders exceeding 10,000 mt in North America. Settling ponds and roads are now in the process of being installed.

Fertoz recently inked a rock contract with EarthRenew Inc., Toronto (GM July 2, p. 28). Fertoz pulverized rock phosphate 0-20-0 will be supplied to EarthRenew subsidiary Replenish Nutrients Ltd., targeting 10,000 mt/y over a period of five years. Some 500-1,000 mt will be supplied monthly beginning in July of this year.

Fertoz, the largest supplier of organic rock phosphate in North America, has extracted 2,700 mt from Wapiti and Fernie now available to buy for additional field trials in British Columbia, Saskatchewan, Alberta, Washington, Oregon, and California. The company is working on mine permits and bulk sample applications at both the Wapiti and Fernie mine sites for 82,000 mt for near-term extraction. The company has 25,000 mt under lease from Canada to Mexico that it can mine for processing, trials, and sales.

Fertoz also is installing a granulator manufactured in China at Butte, Mont., that will enable it to significantly reduce costs and deliver custom granulated fertilizers within a few days to growers. Nearly 70 percent of Fertoz’s fertilizer sales are granulated products, as it partners with a number of distributors to supply organic phosphate fertilizer to a range of consumers.

Fertoz CEO and Director Pat Avery told Green Markets that he also has been encouraged by Fertoz recently securing $5 million and new partnerships to accelerate development of its carbon division, which started in May, but he worries about the adverse impacts extreme heat will have on the fertilizer industry and agriculture operations should the historic drought gripping the Western U.S. and Canada continue for another six weeks. He noted the bulk of Fertoz’s mines and sales are located in that region.

Temperatures in Lytton, B.C., recently shattered record highs for the entire nation of Canada, peaking at 124 degrees Fahrenheit before a wildfire literally burned the small community to the ground due to tinder dry conditions. Avery said he is concerned that crop yields overall will suffer unless weather conditions improve before Sept. 1.

“This is the worst that I can remember,” Avery said, noting that fuel and energy costs are escalating as inflation worsens, adding additional economic stress for fertilizer manufacturers and farmers. “This is tough.”

He emphasized that all of Fertoz’s fertilizers are registered organic and sales have been picking up. Many of its customers are not 100 percent organic, but they are trying to use sustainable and regenerative ag practices, he said.

The company said dryness actually helps Fertoz because its operations concentrate on crushing, screening, and granulating organic fertilizer.

Avery said by blending organic fertilizer with their products, fertilizer companies can reduce their carbon emissions while maintaining high yields, achieving lower costs, and minimizing environmental impacts, including far less runoff and less salt in the soil.

“Our carbon footprint is very small. With the right crops and sequestration farm practices, our fertilizers can be carbon negative,” Avery said. “On May 1, we started issuing carbon certificates on every ton we sell.”

Fertoz can help validate, track, and potentially sell the credits. “Markets are still evolving. We’re small. We don’t have all the answers,” he added.

Avery said mining, coal, and timber companies have contacted Fertoz about using carbon neutral fertilizer in their reclamation and reforesting operations. The company is investigating the potential of coating seeds with fertilizer to enhance drone reforestation efforts. It has begun to offer the use of drones to plant nonproductive areas on farms, and then use satellite and drone imagery to calculate carbon dioxide sequestered across the entire farm, regardless of crop selection.

Fertoz has entered into an agreement with Trimble Inc., Sunnyvale, Calif., to facilitate carbon offset trading, and executed a memorandum of understanding with DataPLP, Saskatoon, to quantify carbon sequestration through satellite and drone imagery and field testing. Canada-based Brightspot Climate Inc. also has been engaged as a consultant to assist with the development of an emission reduction methodology and registration with a recognized offsets registry.

“We want to do things right and are glad we partnered with Trimble, a top ag company, and Brightspot to get through field measurements, validation, and certification so we can participate in carbon credit trading in both the voluntary and regulatory markets,” Avery said.

Alceco to Merge with FCA; Combined Co-op Begins Operations in September

Featured, News, Western Cornbelt

The members of Alceco, based in Albert City, Iowa, have voted in favor of a merger with First Cooperative Association (FCA) of Cherokee, Iowa, according to an announcement from both cooperatives. The merger will be effective on Sept. 1, 2021, with the combined organization headquartered in Cherokee and a home office remaining open in Albert City. The merged co-op will operate a total of 32 grain and agronomy facilities in Iowa.

“By joining together, the new organization will be one of the leading cooperatives in the region with local management and local board representation,” said Chuck Specketer, FCA Board President.

The merger process was first announced in December 2020, with the boards of both cooperatives commissioning a study to examine the synergies between the organizations and make recommendations on potential unification (GM Dec. 18, 2020).

In April 2021, the combined boards voted unanimously to move forward with a vote by the Alceco members (GM April 30, p. 1). Five information meetings were held on May 25-28 in Sheldon, Orange City, Spencer, Storm Lake, and Emmetsburg for Class A Alceco members.

“We are pleased the Alceco members recognized the many benefits this merger will offer, first and foremost to members of both cooperatives, but also to both employee teams and the communities we serve in northwest Iowa,” said Jim Franzmeier, Board Chair for Alceco.

Alceco, which stands for Albert City Elevator Cooperative, was formed in 1905, but grew over the decades through multiple expansions and acquisitions, including a merger in 2008 with Midwest Farmers Cooperative.

Alceco partnered with Cargill in 1997 to form Ag Partners LLC, a joint venture that provides grain, agronomy, feed, and petroleum products and services from 17 retail and wholesale locations in Iowa. Ag Partners now operates as a solely-owned subsidiary of Alceco after the company announced last summer that it had acquired full ownership from Cargill (GM July 31, 2020).

FCA provides agronomy, energy, grain, and feed products and services from 22 locations in northwestern Iowa, with a staff of 182 full-time and more than 40 part-time employees. The company is recognized as the oldest continuously active cooperative elevator in the nation, tracing its roots to 1887, when Farmers Cooperative Elevator of Marcus, Iowa, was incorporated.

FCA was formed under its present name in 1997 through the merger of four Iowa cooperatives – Farmers Cooperative Association in Marathon, Agland Coop in Alta, Farmers Cooperative in Aurelia, and Farmers Cooperative in Cleghorn.

The boards of both organizations named Troy Upah, current CEO of Ag Partners, as CEO of the combined cooperative. Merle Lyons, current FCA General Manager, was named Chief Operating Officer.

“This is an exciting time for our cooperatives and for farmers in northwest Iowa,” said Upah. “As our industry continues to change at a rapid pace, it is important to keep moving forward with those changes. Through this merger, we will be able to continue to meet the needs of our members and area growers now and well into the future.”

Southwestern Fertilizer Conference Well Attended Despite COVID Concerns

Featured, News

More than 1,600 industry representatives gathered in San Antonio, Texas, on July 17-21 for the 2021 Southwestern Fertilizer Conference (SWFC). The annual event was one of first major industry gathering to take place since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. Last year’s conference, scheduled for mid-July in Denver, Colo., was cancelled in May 2020 during the initial surge in COVID cases (GM May 29, 2020).

Executive Director Pat Miller said the addition of spouses pushed this year’s total attendance to 1,735, making it the fourth largest SWFC ever in spite of the absence of many international attendees due to concerns about border crossings amid the current spike in Delta variant cases. There were also reports that some U.S. companies withdrew their attendance at the last minute in response to new COVID cases among employees.

Few of those concerns seemed to be on the minds of this year’s mostly maskless attendees, however, as evening receptions and a scheduled breakfast and luncheon on July 20 were all well attended. Several sources said the main topics of conversation at the event were the recently announced UAN fill programs (GM July 16, p. 7) and the June 30 petition by CF Industries for countervailing duty investigations on UAN imports from Russia and Trinidad (GM July 2, p. 1).

The sold-out July 20 breakfast session featured a panel discussion on the future direction of the fertilizer industry, and included Corey Rosenbusch, CEO of The Fertilizer Institute; Tim McArdle, Board Director of Brandt; Geraldo Mattioli, Senior Vice President of Yara North America; and Simplot corporate grower Wade H. Condrey.

This year’s conference also honored inductees into the Fertilizer Hall of Fame for both 2020 and 2021. For 2020, these included R.L. Moore of Intrepid Potash and J.R. Simplot of J.R. Simplot Co. For 2021, the inductees were Jim Poole of Poole Chemical, Joe Eddleman of American Plant Food Corp., and Billy Barton of Bonus Crop Fertilizer.

Major UAN Players Respond to Trade Complaint, Accuse CF of Dumping, Price Setting

Featured, News, U.S., UAN

Major U.S. UAN importers and distributors Gavilon Fertilizer LLC, Helm Fertilizer Corp. (HFC), and International Raw Materials Ltd. (IRM), as well as Russian producer Acron and Trinidad producer Methanol Holdings Trinidad Ltd. (MHTL), submitted testimony this past week disputing CF Industries’ antidumping and countervailing duty claims (GM July 16, p. 1; July 2, p. 1).

They argued that CF had run up its own production capacity to export product, and when it was hit by E.U. duties in 2019 it wound up dumping that product back onto the U.S. market. They also argued that it is well known that CF is the UAN price setter, not the offshore producers or importers.

Gavilon, Helm, and IRM all noted that imports play a larger role in the U.S. along the East Coast, West Coast, and Gulf Coast, as CF and other domestic producers have inland facilities and logistics and transportation costs weigh on their margins to these outer regions.

Gavilon President Brent Harlander added that the domestic industry’s failure to serve major parts of the U.S. market has forced farmers to rely upon imported product. He added that in CF’s recent summer fill program, CF refused to even quote Gavilon prices for locations on the Gulf and East Coasts.

“To be clear, CF has told Gavilon that it will not sell any product to Gavilon at any price to certain U.S. geographies,” said Harlander. “On top of that, we have offered to buy large volumes at the prices CF asked for, but CF will only supply us a fraction of the volumes we have requested. CF is again forcing Gavilon to look elsewhere for our UAN supply – likely at higher prices than CF is offering.”

Harlander said CF is the price leader in the U.S. market and kicks off the summer fill campaign by announcing its prices and making offers, with the remainder of purchases made as needed throughout the year to meet customer needs.

“One particular story about CF illustrates its role in the U.S. market,” said Harlander. “By way of background, CF keeps secret when it will open up the summer fill season for UAN. CF’s surprise announcement will always cause a mad scramble to secure supply of UAN. In 2018, Gavilon’s representative to CF was out of contact when CF announced opening up the summer fill campaign. By the time the dust settled and a few hours had past, CF was essentially out of product to provide Gavilon for that summer fill. Gavilon would have bought a lot more product for the 2019 planting season had CF been willing to sell to us.”

Harlander said generally, CF’s arguments do not support what is actually happening in the market. “First…CF refuses to supply our needs, which forces Gavilon to buy imports to supply American farmers. Second, CF is the price leader, and its prices are not materially impacted by import prices. Finally, CF is not a reliable supplier. But it gets away with putting customers on allocation, missing delivery windows, and leaving customers in the lurch because of its outsized market power.”

On the other hand, Harlander said foreign producers have been more reliable. “They supply the promised quantities at the promised time. Reliability of supply is very important to our business, and to the businesses of farmers that can only fertilize their crops in a narrow window of time.”

“We are having difficulty, to say the least, understanding CF’s claim of injury,” said IRM President William O’Neill Jr., whose company trades UAN in California, Oregon, and Washington. “If there are any wounds at all, it seems they are self-inflicted. CF misjudged the global growth of the UAN market and expanded its production too quickly. The antidumping duties imposed on CF’s exports to the European Union effectively eliminated one of CF’s target markets and left it with substantial excess production, but that wound too, was self-inflicted.”

O’Neill said while Acron decreased UAN production by 633,000 st, or nearly 37 percent between 2019 and 2020 in response to the E.U. tariffs, CF only decreased production by about one percent of its U.S. production capacity.

“Finally, CF could have reduced or shifted its overall production of UAN in response to the E.U. tariffs to mitigate its damages, but instead it chose to dump its product into a geographic market 2,000 rail miles and a formidable mountain range away; markets that it had previously abandoned because of the costs of getting there,” he said.

O’Neill said after being found to have dumped product in the E.U., CF began unloading its excess capacity into an area of the domestic market it historically relinquished because of the difficult and expensive logistics.

“Just recently, we lost a significant piece of business with a long-term customer to CF’s ‘fill’ program discounts. CF is trying to capture West Coast market share no matter the cost, and it simply has too much volume and market share for other wholesalers or retailers to exert any upward pressure on domestic prices,” said O’Neill.

“It is CF’s behavior – not imports – that sets the bar for UAN pricing in the domestic market,” he added. “The consolidation of the UAN market, and CF’s substantial production capacity, have led to CF having significant pricing power in the domestic market.”

Due to major consolidation, he called the nitrogen industry an oligopoly. He noted that two of the markets largest buyers, The Mosaic Co. and CHS Inc., shelved plans to build their own greenfield plants in favor of long term supply contracts with CF.

Like Gavilon, O’Neill said CF had restricted supply of UAN to IRM.

Helm Fertilizer President and CEO Michael Peyton said his company has been a very consistent supplier to the U.S. UAN market for a long time, with long-term contracts and prices set to reflect the prevailing market prices at the time.

“In the U.S. market, the price of UAN is established by CF Industries, who is the dominant/largest supplier throughout the U.S. and is the undisputed price leader,” said Peyton. “CF Industries sets the price of UAN, and other parties, including HFC, must react to it. We are frequently advised by our customers of the CF Industries price, and are then given a short period of time, often just 24 hours, to meet that price or lose the sale.”

Peyton, whose company markets imports from Trinidad, said those imports constitute an extremely small share of the U.S. UAN market and Trinidad producer MTHL made no efforts to increase its exports to the U.S. relative to its exports to Europe.

Like Gavilon and IRM, Peyton said Helm’s targeted commercial and distribution strategy minimizes the extent to which it has to compete with CF on a head-to-head basis. He noted Helm facilities at Houston, Stockton, Calif., and Theodore, Ala., as examples.

Russian producer Acron argued that its own exports to the U.S. significantly declined during the period of investigation and the interim period. The company noted that in 2018 it implemented a long-term capital investment plan to modernize and diversify its nitrogen fertilizer capabilities, with the ultimate goal of commercializing production of granulated urea and expanding ammonium nitrate capacity at a cost of over $140 million.

Acron said during the first phase it modernized its plants producing AN and urea solution, and in the second phase, completed in 2020, it installed granulation facilities to transform urea solution into granulated urea and expand prilled AN production.

Acron said that Russian exports of UAN to the U.S. declined over 3 percent between 2018 and 2020, and over 22 percent during the interim period. It said that any suggestion that the E.U. antidumping duty order actually resulted in more Russian UAN in the U.S. market is completely false.

Acron said that between 2018 and 2020, U.S. UAN exports to the E.U. evaporated and total U.S. exports declined by 755,000 st. It said those tons were redirected to the U.S. market, which put pressure on prices as CF is the price setter in that market.

MTHL said its exports must be viewed in the context of its production issues early in the period of investigation. The company said it suffered from significant operational challenges in 2018 – gas curtailments and a pipeline failure and other problems at its urea plant, which reduced UAN production and exports that year.

Those issues were largely resolved in 2019 and brought the company back closer to historical production levels. MTHL said this accounted for the increase in exports to the U.S. and Europe in 2019, which it said have been consistent since the facility first started in 2010.

K+S Sees 2Q Significantly Up on Year-Ago, Cites Potash Prices, Volumes

Earnings, Germany, News

K+S Group, Kassel, reported on July 20 that on the basis of preliminary earnings figures, its second-quarter EBITDA is expected “to be significantly above” the year-ago level, at €110 million, more than double the previous year’s €52.7 million. Analyst expectations were for a €92.9 million second-quarter EBITDA.

K+S cited higher average potash prices and sales volumes in the Agriculture customer segment and higher sales volumes in the Industry+ customer segment as driving the improvement in earnings.

The company said the closing of accounts is still ongoing and it will publish its complete half-year financial report on Aug. 12.

Yara Sticks with Belarusian K; Updates on Brazil, Ethiopia, Green Initiatives

Africa, Belarus, Green Ammonia, News, News Briefs, Potash, Scandinavia

Yara International ASA, Oslo, will continue to buy potash from Belarus with imports little affected by the European Union (E.U.) trade restrictions imposed against the eastern European country on June 24, the company’s President and CEO Svein Tore Holsether said on July 16.

“Yara has flexibility, but we have chosen to continue buying from Belarus,” Holsether told Reuters. He said Yara was observing the restrictions set by the E.U. and that it would only continue to import potash as long as it could have “a positive impact” on workers’ rights in Belarus.

The CEO said the sanctions had had “some” impact on Yara’s potash imports so far, but declined to say how much. A rapid implementation of the sanctions would have a bigger impact, he said.

In late May, amid the expectation of the imposition of further E.U. measures against Belarus following the forced diversion to Minsk of a Ryanair flight destined for the Lithuanian capital Vilnius from Athens on May 23, Yara said it has “a broad portfolio of potash suppliers” and “continuously maps alternative supply options to be able to respond to supply chain disruptions” (GM May 28, p. 1).

The company had said a change of supply arrangements “could have a cost, but as a large and stable potash buyer it is typically able to secure competitive terms.”

Since the disputed re-election of Belarus President Alexander Lukashenko last August, Yara has issued a series of statements on its website expressing “concern about the Belarus situation” (GM Sept. 18, 2020, Sept. 25. 2020; Nov. 25, 2020; Dec. 11, 2020). Exiled Belarus opposition leader Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya – as have others – has called upon Yara to suspend Belaruskali potash contracts.

Norway is not an E.U. member state, but is a member of the European Economic Area. It recently was among four other non-E.U. European countries, to join the targeted economic sanctions imposed by the E.U. Council on June 24, which came into force the following day (GM July 16, p. 32). This will ensure that the national policies of Norway and the other four countries conform to the Council Decision, the E.U. Council said in a statement on July 13.

In other news, Yara International EVP & CFO Thor Giæver, responding to an analyst’s question at a company second-quarter earnings call on July 16 (GM July 16, p. 26), said the company’s Salitre phosphates project in Brazil “was progressing,” but reminded that project work had been impacted by the COVID-19 situation.

“We haven’t been able to man the project anywhere near 100 percent over the last year and a half,” he said. “So, we are still progressing, but also are re-evaluating the timeline on the project. We don’t have a new completion date to communicate at this stage.”

The Salitre project – along with the company’s Rio Grande project – was paused in late March 2020 as a result of COVID-19 measures announced by local authorities (GM March 27, 2020).

Yara had indicated a month earlier that the project would be delayed until the second half of 2021, as it worked to increase the phosphate recoveries from the beneficiation process through utilizing different process optimization, as well as re-engineering solutions (GM Feb. 14, 2020). The company had said it was targeting to reach between 60-70 percent recovery. The beneficiation plant at the Salitre site started up in 2019, and remains operational.

Asked about the implications of the recent potash price increases for the company’s potash project in Ethiopia, Giæver said higher potash prices are obviously positive for the project, but Yara “is fully intent on staying within the company’s CapEx guidance, irrespective of price developments.”

“We have said in the past and we continue to think this is a good viable project, but we are keen to find ways to progress that without putting in a lot more capital from the Yara side,” he said.

Earlier in the earnings call, Holsether had told analysts Yara’s approach to new businesses that the company is establishing is to find ways to fund them and allow growth and still manage within Yara’s capital allocation policy.

Yara has been studying the Yara Dallol potash project in the Afar region of Ethiopia for some years. Last year, the company said the project was “on hold despite the project’s robust profitability” (GM Feb.14, 2020). It cited Yara’s strategic direction as behind the decision.

The Norwegian company, which was last reported to have a 51.8 percent stake in Dallol, had been looking at a potential production capacity of approximately 600,000 mt/y of sulfate of potash (SOP) utilizing solution mining (GM Nov. 10, 2017). A mining agreement was signed with the Ethiopian authorities in November 2017.

Responding to an analyst’s question whether Yara sees more interest on the green or on the blue side of ammonia, Holsether said he sees the interest now in hydrogen and the amounts potentially needed of that product.

“There is room for developing both green and blue ammonia, but whether there will be more interest for green or blue depends on the sectors where it will be used,” he said

“Yara will be in both green and blue ammonia, but the majority of the work that we are doing at the moment is within green ammonia, linked to the company’s project in Porsgrunn, which is our largest such project,” he said.

Yara in December revealed its plans for 500,000 mt/y of green ammonia production in Norway through fully electrifying its Porsgrunn ammonia plant, and said it was seeking partners as well as government support for the project (GM Dec. 11, 2020). In February this year, it signed a Letter of Intent with state-owned hydropower company Statkraft AS and Norwegian renewable energy investment firm Aker Horizons, aimed at establishing Europe’s first large-scale green ammonia project at Porsgrunn in Norway (GM Feb. 19, p. 36).

Holsether also reminded the company is working with Orsted in Sluiskil in the Netherlands, and with ENGIE in Australia, as well as on products for green hydrogen and green ammonia.

BHP Says Jansen on Track for Final Decision in Next Two Months

Australia, Featured, News, Potash, Saskatchewan

BHP Ltd., Melbourne, this week said its Jansen Stage 1 potash project in Saskatchewan remains on track for “a go or no-go decision” in the next two months. Under current plans, BHP’s Stage 1, should it go ahead, would provide 4.3-4.5 million mt/y of potassium chloride production capacity.

In its Operational Review for the year ended June 30, 2021, the mining major reported its current investment program to complete the shafts at Jansen is now 93 percent complete, up from 91 percent at the end of March (GM April 23, p. 1).

BHP told analysts and investors at the Potash Outlook investor and analyst presentation and briefing in June that it wants to have a port solution locked in before it takes the final investment decision for Jansen Stage 1 to its board for approval (GM June 18, p. 1).

As previously reported, the group is considering two options regarding a port. One is a commercial option in the port of Vancouver at an existing facility. The other is a greenfield option at the port, which would see BHP joining the development of the proposed West Coast Terminal expansion.

Late on July 22, Westshore Terminals Investment Corp., Vancouver, said its wholly-owned subsidiary, Westshore Terminals LP, has executed an agreement with BHP Canada Inc., a subsidiary of BHP Group, to provide port services to BHP’s proposed Jansen Potash Mine in Saskatchewan. The agreement is subject to approval by the Board of BHP and execution by BHP, after which the agreement would still be conditional on BHP making a final investment decision on Stage 1 of the Jansen Project.

If the Jansen Project does proceed, the agreement requires Westshore to handle potash for BHP for a term to 2051, subject to extension. It also requires Westshore to construct the necessary infrastructure to handle potash at Westshore’s Roberts Bank Terminal by 2026, with BHP funding the construction. If BHP announces a final decision to proceed with the Jansen Stage 1 Project, the BHP-Westshore agreement will become binding on BHP, at which time Westshore will provide further details concerning the agreement.

In other late-breaking BHP news, the Globe and Mail reported July 23 that BHP is pressing the province of Saskatchewan for tax concessions leading up to its final Jansen decision.

BHP in June gave what analysts believed was the mining group’s strongest indication to date that it intends to go ahead with the Jansen potash project. In the 56-page Potash Outlook investor and analyst presentation and briefing on June 17, BHP laid out the pro-case for the potash project, and for the mining group to a become a major new global supplier of the nutrient (GM May 21, p. 1).

RBC Director Australian Metals & Mining Equity Analyst Kaan Peker sees BHP likely giving the Jansen Stage 1 project the green-light in August, according to a Bloomberg report at that time, citing a note by Peker (GM July 2, p. 1).

RBC also sees the mining group as likely developing all four proposed stages of Jansen, producing 16-17 million mt/y at full capacity by 2035, for a total capex of $22 billion.

KBR Secures Technology Contract for Haifa Nitric Acid Plant Expansions

Houston, TX, Israel, News, News Briefs, Specialty

KBR Inc., Houston, announced that it has been awarded a nitric acid technology contract by Israel’s Haifa Group for two of its process plants at Mishor Rotem in Israel.

Under the terms of the contract, KBR will provide license, basic engineering design, and proprietary equipment for both plants, to deliver a capacity increase of approximately 35 percent at each plant.

Haifa Group CEO Motti Levin said the two nitric acid plants are integral to Haifa’s expansion plan to double its production capacity in the coming years, and to enable production of new advanced specialty fertilizer products.

The Israeli group last December announced plans to build a 100,000 mt/y ammonia plant at Mishor Rotem (GM Dec. 31, 2020). The group estimates that 70 percent of the ammonia will be used internally and will allow it to double production capacity at the site. The ammonia project is expected to take three years to complete.

OCP to Build 55 Farm Hubs to Train Nigerian Farmers

News, News Briefs, Nigeria

OCP Africa Fertilisers Nigeria Ltd., a subsidiary of the OCP Group, announced that it will train agro entrepreneurs on how to use its hubs to boost farmers’ productivity and improve food security and nutrition.

The OCP subsidiary said it plans to provide farmers in underserved markets with easy access to fertilizers and other quality inputs, as well as establish 55 one-stop-shop Farm & Fortune Hubs across the country, according to a report by Nigeria’s Punch newspaper, citing a July 16 statement by the company.

The hubs will be equipped with agritech solutions to help farmers optimize yields, aggregate and preserve their produce, improve food security, and ultimately provide increased income for smallholder families, according to the report, citing OCP Africa Fertilisers Nigeria’s Country Manager Caleb Usoh.

OCP Africa last month was awarded a $1.4 million co-investment grant by the USAID-funded West Africa Trade & Investment Hub to install modern blending equipment at OCP Africa Fertilisers Nigeria’s new blending plant unit under construction in Kaduna State, Punch reported, citing the OCP Nigerian subsidiary.

The unit will have capacity to produce 120 mt/h of crop-customized blends and storage capacity for up to 10,000 mt of product.

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