All Posts from April 30, 2021

Court Tells EPA to Decide on Chlorpyrifos

News Briefs

The U.S. EPA must ban chlorpyrifos residue in food or determine how much to reduce the allowable amount, a federal appeals court decided April 29 in the face of building evidence that the pesticide causes injuries, according to Bloomberg Law.

Pesticide Action Network North America and the Natural Resources Defense Council Inc. asked EPA to prohibit foods with chlorpyrifos residue in 2007 because of the chemical’s health effects. After more than a decade of agency inaction, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit in a 2-1 vote gave the agency 60 days to decide what, if any, amount is safe.

The court also ordered EPA to either modify or cancel its chlorpyrifos registrations for food use under the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act.

Land O’Lakes 1Q Income Surges, Reports Strongest Performance in Past Decade

Earnings, News, U.S.

Land O’Lakes Inc., Arden Hills, Minn., reported first-quarter profit more than tripled with gains reported across all segments, including Crop Inputs, where earnings improved due to higher volumes and favorable product mix in Crop Protection Products in advance of spring planting.

Cooperative-wide net earnings surged to $136 million from $37 million a year earlier. Sales rose 4 percent, to $3.9 billion from $3 billion.

“The operating environment and fundamentals are strong in each business segment,” said Beth Ford, Land O’Lakes President and CEO.

“The Ag sector is bolstered with our agronomic leadership in Winfield United, rising grain prices, and farmers investing in their crops in preparation for spring planting, and is well-positioned to take advantage of the most favorable market environment since 2014,” said Ford. “As businesses continue to re-open in 2021, the marketplace for Dairy Foods Foodservice is rebounding rapidly. Animal Nutrition has also seen continued growth in the lifestyle segment as people continue to invest in their animals.”

Overall, the company said improved performance more than offset the impact of higher supply chain costs across the portfolio. It said 2021 first-quarter performance was the strongest of the past decade.

LSB 1Q Results Improve

Ammonia, Ammonium Nitrate, Earnings, News, U.S., UAN

LSB Industries Inc., Oklahoma City, reported improved results for the first quarter, lowering its net loss to $13.3 million on increased revenues of $98.1 million, compared to the year-ago loss of $19.5 million and revenues of $83.4 million. Adjusted EBITDA was up at $17.3 million from $15.6 million.

“We generated year-over-year improvement in net sales and adjusted EBITDA in the first quarter despite historically cold weather-induced shutdowns of two of our facilities in February,” stated Mark Behrman, LSB President and CEO. “All things considered, it was a good start to the year, and we expect to benefit in the coming quarters from the strong nitrogen industry dynamics being driven by robust agricultural demand and price improvement and the recovery of our industrial end markets as the pandemic’s effects on the economy subside.”

LSB said the year-over-year improvement in operating loss and adjusted EBITDA was primarily the result of higher selling prices along with stronger volumes partially offset by higher natural gas prices, as well as the overall net impact of weather-related plant shutdowns at Pryor, Okla., and El Dorado, Ark.

LSB said the increased demand for corn in China and other countries and dry conditions in South America have led to the highest corn prices in eight years, with this translating into significant increases in the price of fertilizers.

On the industrial side, the company noted that sales are up due to the ramp up of the new seven-year nitric acid offtake agreement, and that key end markets, including automotive, homebuilding, and power-generation, have recovered to pre-pandemic levels. The company added that further expansion is expected as the roll-out of COVID-19 vaccines continues.

Net Sales by Sector 1Q-21 1Q-20 Percentage Change
Ag $44.9 $41.5 8
Industrial $40.3 $35.2 14
Mining $12.9 $6.7 92
Total $98.1 $83.4 18
Ag Product Tons Sold 1Q-21 1Q-20 Percentage Change
UAN 109,243 114,689 (5)
HDAN 76,162 65,874 16
Ammonia        22,054 20,510 8
Other 2,750 2,946 (7)
Total 210,209 204,019 3
Avg Selling Price per st 1Q-21 1Q-20 Percentage Change
UAN $150 $150 0
HDAN $207 $198 4
Ammonia        $283 $235 21
       
Industrial/Mining Tons 1Q-21 1Q-20 Percentage Change
Ammonia        43,193 70,528 (39)
AN, Nitric, and Other 116,165 67,434 72
Total 159,358 137,962 16
Tampa AA Benchmark mt $348/mt $250/mt 39
Avg Nat Gas Cost MMBtu 3.15 2.09 51

Haifa Consolidates CRF Production to France

Featured, Israel, News, Southeast, Specialty

The Haifa Group, Haifa, Israel, is in the process of relocating its Multicote™ controlled release fertilizer (CRF) production at its Savannah, Ga., site to an existing facility in Lunel, France, which will expand production.

The company said it is looking to increase efficiencies by producing all of its CRF materials in France. CRF production in Israel stopped after the Israeli Supreme Court ordered the company to close its anhydrous ammonia tank at the Port of Haifa (GM Oct. 20, 2017).

The Savannah plant has ceased coating operations, but blending and packaging are expected to continue for a few more months. Haifa will be building up inventories so that no new CRF will need be imported for the remainder of 2021.

Haifa will continue to supply CRF and its other products utilizing its broad warehousing network, including locations in Savannah, Tampa, Houston, New Jersey, and the Stockton and Los Angeles areas in California. Haifa has been selling its CRF across the U.S. for over 15 years. The Savannah plant also served all of the Americas, both North and South, as well as the Caribbean.

The $20 million, 20,000 mt/y Savannah facility was commissioned in 2016 (GM May 6, p. 1) with an estimated 20 employees. Certain equipment from the Savannah plant will be sent to France.

LSB Industries Inc. – Management Brief

Management Briefs

LSB Industries Inc., Oklahoma City, has appointed Hector Miravete as Director of Clean Energy, effective May 3, 2021. This newly created position is intended to lead the development and execution of LSB’s recently launched Green Ammonia initiative.

LSB said Miravete is a chemical engineer with more than 20 years of experience in the petrochemical industry, including a strong commercial, supply chain, and process engineering background in nitrogen-based technologies.

From 2014 to 2021, he was with KBR Inc., Houston, where, since 2016, he served as Global Technology Business Director for the nitrogen-based technology portfolio, which included nitric acid, ammonium nitrate, and urea ammonium nitrate manufacturing technologies. Miravete has also served as Global Commercial Director for Kalex Fibers and Global Product/Integrated Supply Chain Director for Dow Chemical Co.

Miravete holds a B.S. in Chemical Engineering from Universidad Iberoamericana in Mexico City, and an MBA from Tecnologico de Monterrey. He also attended executive leadership programs at The University of Chicago Booth School of Business and The Stanford Graduate School of Business.

Tennessee Farmers Cooperative – Management Brief

Management Briefs, South Central

Tennessee Farmers Cooperative (TFC) CEO Bart Krisle has announced his retirement, effective June 4, after a 38-year career with the cooperative, including the last 14 as CEO.

The Board of Directors has selected Shannon Huff, who has been TFC CFO since 2006, to replace Krisle. He has been with the cooperative more than 33 years. He is a certified public accountant and holds a bachelor’s degree in accounting from Tennessee Technological University.

Kirk Fischer, TFC Internal Auditor, has been named to replace Huff as CFO. He first joined the cooperative in 2003. He is a certified public accountant and holds a master’s degree in accounting and a bachelor’s in business administration from Middle Tennessee State University.

Phillip Farmer was named Chief Operating Officer to replace Jim McWherter, who retired in October 2020 after a 47-year career with TFC. Farmer has served as TFC Chief Marketing Officer since January 2019 and has 25 years of experience. He has a bachelor’s degree from Ohio State University.

Orica – Management Brief

Australia, Management Briefs

Sanjeev Gandhi became the Managing Director and CEO of Orica, Melbourne, on April 1, as was previously reported (GM Feb. 26, p. 35). He has made several management changes.

Current President – Latin America Germán Morales has been appointed President – Australia, Pacific, & Asia, Orica’s most profitable region, effective April 1.

Current Vice President Finance Australia, Pacific, & Asia James Crough has been appointed President – North America, effective Oct. 1.

Current GroundProbe CEO Brian Gillespie has been appointed President – Latin America, effective May 3.

Current President – North America James Bonnor has been appointed President – Europe, Middle East, and Africa, effective July 1.

Current Vice President Global Manufacturing Leah Barlow has been appointed to the newly created role of Senior Vice President Discrete Manufacturing and Supply Chain, with responsibility for Orica’s Initiating Systems & Packaged Explosives plants and global supply chain, effective April 1.

Current President – Europe, Middle East, and Africa Thomas Schutte will retire at the end of June. Matt Bowtell will act as Interim President – North America from July 1 to Sept. 30, 2021.

Chief Manufacturing and Supply Officer Darryl Cuzzubbo decided to leave the company, effective April 1. Responsibility for Orica’s ammonium nitrate continuous manufacturing plants in Australia, Indonesia, and Canada will fall under the respective regional presidents.

Current GroundProbe Chief Operating Officer David Noon will succeed Gillespie as Vice President GroundProbe.

“Orica’s deep well of talent right across the business means I have been able to assemble a richly talented team from within our ranks,” said Gandhi. “Together, these leaders have the right experience and capabilities to drive the next phase of performance and delivery.”

NeuAg LLC – Management Brief

Management Briefs, Specialty, Texas

NeuAg LLC, Freeport, Texas, reported that Wesley Kirkham will join the company as Sales Manager-Texas, effective May 3, 2021, overseeing ammonium sulfate sales in Texas and surrounding areas. He will report directly to Joe Newcomb, President of Sales and Marketing.

Kirkham was most recently Business Development Manager for Latin America for the Actogram line of soil health products. He has also worked for CHS Inc., Archer Daniels Midland, Traylor Chemical and Supply, American Cyanamid, and the family farming operation in Anahuac, Texas.

NeuAg said during Kirkham’s career he has worked with retailers and distributors across the U.S. and Latin America. It also noted that he was instrumental with the construction of the first sulfur prilling plant in Mexico and has traveled extensively throughout Mexico, Central America, and many countries in South America. He was instrumental in registrations of packaged agricultural fertilizers in seven Latin American countries. He is fluent in Spanish, as well as some Portuguese.

Kirkham is a graduate of Texas A&M, with a degree in Agronomy.

NeuAg also announced that Bryan Guipre has joined the company to lead sales for the national spray adjuvant market. The company said he has a 35-year track record in agribusiness, having worked in various environments, including retail and wholesale fertilizer sales and market development, seed sales and distribution management, biological startups, and carbon credit markets. He can be reached at bryan.guipre@neu-ag.com.

BPS Agriculture – Management Brief

Management Briefs, Specialty, Texas

BPS Agriculture, Argyle, Texas, an agriculture holding company with three startups – Verano365, Farm Shield, and PureAcre – has promoted David Coorts to Vice President of Technical Development. He initially joined Verano365 as a Technical Director in 2019, and he now oversees technical development for all three companies.

BPS said Coorts has 35 years of experience in agriculture and holds a B.S. in Plant and Soil Science from Tennessee Technological University and an M.S. in Soil Taxonomy from the University of Tennessee.

BPS said it uses its proprietary technology, OpusMAX, to create unique products across a number of market segments, including horticulture, broadacre crops, and crop protection. It reported the launch of four products since 2019. Evofactor, Thrivedo, and Nutrivix Zn|Cu from Verano365 are formulated for horticulture use to address nutrient management, yield, and root development, respectively. In early 2021, PureAcre released Augere, a nutrient adjuvant that prevents nitrate leaching.

Oman-India Fertilizer Co. – Management Brief

India, Management Briefs, Urea

Urea producer Oman-India Fertilizer Co. (OMIFCO), Sur Industrial City, Oman, has appointed Ahmed bin Said al Marhoubi as the Acting CEO, effective May 1, 2021, according to an April 28 report in the Oman Daily Observer. He takes over from Sharanappa G. Gedigeri, who has been with OMIFCO since it started.

OMIFCO, which has now been in operation for over a decade, is owned 50 percent by the Omani government, 25 percent by Indian Farmers Fertiliser Cooperative Limited (IFFCO), and 25 percent by Krishak Bharati Cooperative Ltd. (KRIBHCO).

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