Cornbelt:
The NPSZ market firmed to $745-$765/st FOB in the Cornbelt, depending on location, reflecting another $10-$20/st increase from last report.
Pacific Northwest:
40-Rock pricing strengthened $10-$20/st in the Pacific Northwest, to $755-$785/st FOB and $765-$795/st DEL, depending on location and time of the week.
U.S. Gulf:
The number heard on NOLA ammonium sulfate barges was $340/st FOB, with players expecting the next trade to be higher in line with other nitrogen price increases. New across-the-board $20/st FOB postings from AdvanSix had some expecting a similar uptick at NOLA, to $360/st FOB.
Eastern Cornbelt:
The ammonium sulfate market was quoted at $360-$390/st FOB in the Eastern Cornbelt, depending on location, reflecting another increase from the previous week.
AdvanSix on Sept. 20 raised its ammonium sulfate prices by $20/st across its entire distribution system. The increase reportedly pushed granular pricing to $335/st FOB Hopewell, Va., and up to $390/st FOB river terminals in the Midwest and Plains regions.
Western Cornbelt:
The ammonium sulfate market edged up to $370-$390/st FOB in the Western Cornbelt, with the low reported at St. Louis and the high reflecting recent river terminal postings from AdvanSix. The market FOB St. Paul had reportedly firmed to as high as $400-$410/st FOB.
California:
Ammonium sulfate prices were quoted at $385-$400/st FOB Stockton, up $20-$25/st, with reports of rail-DEL business in the $385-$445/st range in California, depending on location. New postings on Sept. 25 reportedly firmed to $397-$400/st FOB Lathrop, depending on grade; $400/st FOB Richvale, and Woodland; $410/st FOB Helm; and
$445/st FOB El Centro.
Pacific Northwest:
Ammonium sulfate prices in the Pacific Northwest firmed to $380-
$400/st FOB or DEL, up from the last reported range of $350-$383/st.
Western Canada:
The ammonium sulfate market in Western Canada had reportedly firmed to C$535/mt DEL, up from C$510-$520/mt DEL at last report.
China:
Some amsul production facilities have been forced to close to comply with environmental regulations. Sources said the slight reduction in output has pushed the caprolactam grade amsul price back up to $200-$205/mt FOB.
Chinese ammonium sulfate exports for January through August of 2021 were reported at 6.3 million mt by Trade Data Monitor. This represents a 23.5 percent increase from the 5.1 million mt exported during the same period last year. Brazil was the top buyer at 1.5 million mt, followed by Vietnam at 783,000 mt, and Indonesia at 631,000 mt.
August 2021 exports of 645,000 mt showed a 26.7 percent decrease from the August 2020 amount of 800,000 mt. Brazil tool 144,000 mt and Vietnam received 106,000 mt. The remaining buyers were all under 100,000 mt.
Brazil:
Limited business left a tightened market of $320-$335/mt CFR at Paranagua for granular amsul. Likewise, in Rondonopolis, limited market activity moved the market to $400/mt FOB ex-warehouse.The barter rate at Sorriso remains at 60 bags of corn for 1 mt of amsul.
Compass Minerals, Overland Park, Kan., said on Sept. 20 that lithium from its Ogden, Utah solar evaporation site could hit the market as early as 2025. Compass is a long-time producer of sulfate of potash (SOP), salt, and magnesium at the site. It announced in July that it was pursuing options at the site for lithium (GM July 16, p. 31).
The company is targeting an annual production capacity of approximately 20,000-25,000 mt/y LCE of battery-grade lithium, with up to 65 percent of the future production derived from brine that has already been extracted from the Great Salt Lake and in varying stages of concentration within the company’s existing ponds. Compass estimates that it already has some 127,000 mt of lithium concentrated in its ponds.
The company said its four-year timeline to market greatly surpasses the industry average of ten years.
The University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, said on Sept. 15 it has been awarded a $2 million grant from the National Science Foundation to study the effectiveness of a new solar-based, small-scale ammonia production process aimed at reducing greenhouse gas emissions.
Because the process lends itself to decentralized fertilizer production, the researchers hope to bring the technology to local farming communities, further cutting environmental costs by reducing transportation requirements. As part of the four-year project, the team hopes to also develop a training program to allow local farms to produce their own ammonia and fertilizers.
Ostara Nutrient Recovery Technologies Inc., Vancouver, B.C., and Evoqua Water Technologies, Pittsburgh, announced on Sept. 16 the signing of an exclusive agreement in which Evoqua, a water treatment technology provider, will lead the sales and implementation of Ostara’s nutrient recovery solutions into the North America and Western Europe municipal markets.
“This partnership leverages the resources of each party, allowing more rapid adoption of our nutrient recovery solutions into new market geographies as well as new market segments,” said Dan Parmar, Ostara President and CEO. “Further, by combining Ostara’s and Evoqua’s proven complementary technologies, we can deliver complete resource recovery solutions through an integrated offering. It’s a true win-win partnership that also expands the production and distribution reach of our sustainable phosphorus-based Crystal Green® fertilizer.”
Highfield Resources, Navarre, Spain, on Sept. 21 announced the signing of a purchase contract for important components of the process plant in order to finalize the pre-construction activities at the flagship Muga Potash Mine in Spain. Following the recent A$18.1 million capital raise, the company said it is well funded to finalize the purchase contracts of the remaining long-lead items.
With the signing of the new contract it said 85 percent of the planned equipment needed for the plant has now been contracted, with the remaining 15 percent to be concluded over the next few weeks. The rest of the equipment, mainly for mining, will be acquired prior to start of operations.
“The signing of this supply contract with Weir Minerals is key to ensure that we are ready for construction,” said Highfield CEO Ignacio Salazar. “This is another important milestone for Highfield and continues to highlight the progress and commitment of the company to the efficient construction of Muga.”
Egyptian Natural Gas Holding Co. (EGAS), Egyptian Petrochemicals Holding Co. (ECHEM), and Japan’s Toyota Tsusho Corp. earlier this month signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) to study the best opportunities in the oil and gas sector to implement projects for extracting and storing carbon dioxide to produce blue ammonia utilizing Japanese technologies. The studies are to be completed over the next 6 months.
Mitsubishi Corp., Tokyo, said on Sept. 21 it plans a 1 million mt/y blue fuel ammonia plant that will supply product to the Japanese market. The plant, which will be located somewhere near Denbury Inc.’s Green CO2 pipeline between Donaldsonville, La., to west of Houston, is expected to start up in the late 2020s.
Mitsubishi said it is taking steps to introduce fuel ammonia to Japan and develop a fuel ammonia supply chain to the country. The Japanese Ministry of Economy, Trade, and Industry this year released a Road Map for Fuel Ammonia introduction that assumes fuel ammonia imports of 3 million mt/y in 2030, with demand rising to 30 million mt/y in 2050.
Plano, Texas-based Denbury will supply CO2 transport and storage options for the ammonia plant. The estimated CO2 volume to be captured from the ammonia facility is a maximum 1.8 million mt/y. The captured CO2 will be either sequestered underground via Denbury’s enhanced oil recovery or go into carbon capture and storage (CCS), which Denbury plans to develop in the future.
The CO2 term sheet contemplates an initial period of 20 years, with the ability to extend further. Denbury said its CO2 capabilities and assets rank among the world’s largest, and that it has been active in the U.S. Gulf region for two decades.
Earlier this month, Mitsubishi and Shell Canada Products, Calgary, signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) relating to the production of low-carbon hydrogen through the use of CCS near Edmonton, Alberta. Mitsubishi aims to build and start up a blue hydrogen facility near the Shell Energy and Chemicals Park Scotford towards the latter half of this decade, with Shell providing CO2 storage via the proposed Polaris CCS project. The hydrogen would be produced via a natural gas feedstock and exported mainly to the Japanese market to produce clean energy.
The first phase of the project aims to produce approximately 165,000 mt/y of hydrogen with an upside to increase production, depending on considerations over future phases. The hydrogen would be converted to blue ammonia for export to Asian markets.
The project would be built near the Edmonton region, which this year was announced as Canada’s first hydrogen hub. The location was chosen due to availability of abundant natural gas resources, proven CO2 storage capacity, and shared infrastructure opportunities. By co-locating next to Shell Scotford, both companies will explore potential synergies such as land use and utilities integration.
OCP SA, Casablanca, reported a first-half net profit of MAD4.698 billion (approximately $517 million at current exchange rates), versus a year-ago net loss of MAD573 million. Revenues increased by 19 percent, to MAD32.48 billion ($3.65 billion), up from the year-ago MAD27.40 billion ($2.8 billion).
Six-month EBITDA increased by 48 percent, to MAD12.53 billion ($1.41 billion), up from MAD8.49 billion ($868 million) the previous year.
OCP released preliminary revenues and capex figures for the reporting period at the beginning of this month (GM Sept. 3, p. 25).
“OCP’s industrial flexibility enabled us to shift a portion of our export volumes to phosphoric acid to accommodate changing demand trends. This, combined with favorable pricing and our streamlined cost structure, resulted in a 19 percent year-on-year increase in revenues in local currency and an 800 basis-point increase in our EBITDA margin to 39 percent [1H 2020: 31 percent], the highest level in the past decade,” said OCP Chairman and CEO Mostafa Terrab.
“These strong results were achieved as OCP’s processed phosphate production increased from first-half 2020 levels, representing higher demand for phosphoric acid, while fertilizer production volumes were lower,” he said.
First-half phosphate rock revenues in local currency were up 11 percent on the prior year, while phosphoric acid and fertilizer revenues increased 27 percent and 20 percent, respectively. In U.S. dollars, rock revenues increased 21 percent, acid revenues were up 39 percent, and fertilizers revenues rose 31 percent.
OCP revenues breakdown
| $ million | 1H-2021 | IH-2020 | % change |
| Total Revenue1 | 3,650 | 2,800 | +30 |
| Of which: | |||
| Phosphate rock | 455 | 551 | +21 |
| Phosphoric acid | 402 | 559 | +39 |
| Fertilizers | 1,653 | 2,165 | +31 |
1 Includes other revenues sources
The group said the improved prices across all three product categories, as well as the higher acid export volumes, helped mitigate lower rock and fertilizer sales volumes compared with a year ago.
OCP attributed the lower fertilizer volumes as primarily due to the group’s depleted inventory levels at the start of 2021 – given, it said, the high production and export volumes achieved in 2020, which included 11 million mt of fertilizers. The shift of a portion of its exports to phosphoric acid to match demand also impacted fertilizer sales volumes.
OCP selected export volumes1
| 1H-2021 | IH-2020 | % change | |
| Phosphoric acid million mt P2O5 | 0.962 | 0.814 | +18 |
| Fertilizers million mt | 5.2 | 5.7 | (9) |
| Of which: | |||
| DAP/MAP | 3.1 | 3.7 | (16) |
| TSP | 0.6 | 0.5 | +20 |
| NPS and NPK | 1.6 | 1.5 | +7 |
1 Excludes phosphate rock exports
OCP said it saw a 0.2 million mt increase in its first-half fertilizer exports to Africa, but a 0.4 million mt decrease in fertilizer exports to North America and a 0.3 million mt fall to South America, compared with the same year-ago period.
The group posted a 20 percent rise in second-quarter revenues to MAD18.19 billion ($2.05 billion), up from the previous year’s MAD15.13 billion ($1.53 billion). Second-quarter EBITDA came in 39 percent up, at MAD7.2 billion ($809 million), versus the year-ago MAD5.17 billion ($523 million).
OCP expects market conditions to remain “very favorable” in the second half of 2021.
“Strong agricultural fundamentals, a balanced supply/demand position, and increased raw materials prices will drive further pricing improvement, particularly in the third quarter ahead of primary application season in most countries,” Terrab said. “Specifically, we expect high demand in the Americas, supported by solid corn and soybean prices and in India, where inventories remain low.”
OCP reported its capital expenditure in the first-half of 2021 totalled MAD4.3 billion ($482 million), 15 percent lower in local currency terms than the year-ago spend of MAD5.09 billion ($520 million).
Westlink Ag, a national distribution/retail buying group for primary crop inputs, on Sept. 17 announced the appointment of Kyle Grant as Executive Vice President, reporting to the office of CEO Jeff Pritchard. Grant will focus on the management of Westlink’s fertilizer, micronutrient, and bio-stimulant operations across the U.S., effective Oct. 1, 2021.
“I’m excited to get going with Westlink Ag,” said Grant. “The ag retailer space has been my passion throughout my career, and that is where Westlink Ag has embedded their vision and established their mark. Aligning my passion and experience with Westlink’s purpose-driven, independence-focused business model will hopefully propel stronger, more sustained success for our members, strategic suppliers, and the growers we all serve.”
Grant is an industry veteran with more than two decades of management and sales experience. He has been with International Raw Materials for the past six years as U.S. Sales Manager, and before that served for nearly a decade in various leadership roles with The J.R. Simplot Co. A graduate of Boise State University, Grant also serves on the boards of the Far West Agribusiness Association and Western Plant Health Association.
“In Kyle’s prior roles, he has been instrumental in working with Westlink Ag and our member,” said Pritchard. “As the ag industry faces very dynamic challenges going forward, we will count on Kyle’s excellent network, strong leadership skills, and intuitive guidance to help us cement a more positive, sustainable impact within and outside our company.”
Formed in January 2000, Westlink Ag is based in Meridian, Idaho, and is comprised of 45 independent agricultural retailer/wholesalers with more than 250 satellite locations covering the U.S. and Canada. Westlink said its primary role is to procure fertilizer, agri-chemicals, micronutrients, organics, and bio-stimulants for its members, and provide strategic direction, grower financing, vehicle leasing, insurance, data management, regulatory guidance, and targeted technology transfer.
