The Chinese ammonium sulfate price in the text on page 7 of the Green Markets dated March 9 should have read – Ammonium sulfate prices remain steady at just under $120/mt FOB. The correct price of $118-$120/mt was recorded in the price scan and the database.
Major potash company stocks moved up Friday, March 9, on news that there had been a collapse at a Belaruskali potash mine.
In this emerging story, Bloomberg reports, citing the Belarus Emergency Ministry, that the roof of a mine collapsed at a depth of 620 meters (2,034 feet) at about 6:30 p.m. local time. Two workers were in the mine at the time and an emergency team was working to clear debris. No one from the company was immediately available to comment.
Initial reports were that the collapse occurred at Belaruskali third production unit. The company does have a mine named Soligorsk 3, with a capacity of 2.3 million mt/y. However, it was unclear if this was the specific mine.
A Belarus potash mine has collapsed, according to a Bloomberg report citing the Belarus Emergencies Ministry. Two workers were reported to be in the mine when the incident occurred.
The specific mine was not identified. Belaruskali has at least four mines according to the Green Markets Potash Quarterly Database, with a combined capacity of approximately 12.8 million mt/y. Individual mine capacities range from 2.3-3.3 million mt/y.
OCI Partners LP, Nederland, Texas, reports that Fady Kiama has resigned as vice president and CFO of the general partner of the LP, effective March 15, to pursue other opportunities. Beshoy Guirguis, currently serving at LP’s parent company, OCI NV, as CFO of OCI Americas, will step in and assume those positions March 15. He will continue to serve as CFO of OCI Americas.
Specialty crop input company Inocucor, Denver, reports that Natalie Shuman has been named director of marketing. She will be responsible for brand management, communications, product management, trade marketing, and product lifecycle management for Inocucor’s microbial and plant nutrient technologies. During her nine-year career at Sun World International, a global producer and marketer of proprietary seedless table grapes, she directed business-to-business marketing, consumer marketing, and communications programs internationally.
Shuman holds a B.A. in Mass Communication Studies from the University of California, Los Angeles.
Inocucor, which currently employs about 40 people in Montreal and the U.S., anticipates adding another 25-30 high-level scientific and managerial professionals over the next year. In May, Inocucor will occupy its new 30,000-square-foot U.S. headquarters and commercialization office, currently under construction in Centennial, Colo. Its Montreal-based, R&D-focused Technical Center of Excellence is currently being enlarged from 10,000 to 20,000 square feet to house expanded product development and manufacturing operations.
PhosAgro, Moscow, reports that independent director Sven Ombudstvedt has been re-elected board chairman and Andrey Guryev deputy chairman. Guryev is the vice president of the Russian Union of Chemists.
Junior miner Gensource Potash Corp., Saskatoon, on March 2 announced the retirement of a long-time director, Dr. Mark Stauffer. He joined the board in October 2015. The company noted that it has a standing age restriction policy, making those who have reached the age of 75 ineligible for nomination as a director. Stauffer has reached that milestone and is retiring to make room for a new director.
The board of directors of Canadian National Railroad (CN), Montreal, announced on March 5 that CEO Luc Jobin was immediately leaving the company. Jean-Jacques Ruest was appointed interim president and CEO. He has some 22 years with the company, the last eight as executive vice president and chief marketing officer.
“The board believes the company needs a leader who will energize the team, realize CN’s corporate vision, and take the company forward with the speed and determination CN is known for,” said Chairman Robert Pace. “Mr. Ruest is well known to customers and investors, and is well positioned to focus the company and its very experienced and proven team of railroaders to rapidly address operational challenges during the transition.”
The board added that in an increasingly competitive marketplace, CN must respond with speed and innovation to retain its leadership position. It also recognized immediate operational and customer service challenges faced since the fall of 2017, led by high demand and insufficient network resiliency, coupled with severe winter weather conditions.
“CN must accelerate execution of the innovation strategy articulated at our Investor Day last June,” said Pace. “The board is confident this remains the right course to restore and retain industry-leading metrics and best-in-class customer service.”
An international search for a new CEO is underway.
Ruest said CN will quickly improve the movement of Western Canadian grain, and is directing additional people and equipment to clear backlogs across its network.
“We apologize for not meeting the expectations of our grain customers, nor our own high standards,” he said. “The entire CN team has a sense of urgency and is fully focused on getting it right for farmers and our grain customers, regaining the confidence of Canadian businesses, and protecting Canada’s reputation as a stable trade partner in world markets.”
These steps include offering incentives for key operating employees to delay retirement and postpone vacations, and for recently-retired operating employees to return to work; deploying qualified management employees to operate extra trains; adding train crews in Western Canada, with about 250 conductors put in the field in fourth-quarter 2017, 400 conductors in first-quarter 2018, and 375 in second-quarter 2018; leasing 130 locomotives to increase capacity in Western Canada, almost all of which are now online; and investing over $250 million this year to build new track and yard capacity in Western Canada to boost supply chain fluidity and build in capacity resiliency for future grain crops.
CN said it delivered 4,577 empty hopper cars last week, up 35 percent from the February average of 3,400. All available hopper cars are in service, and CN expects to show sequential weekly improvements, progressing towards 5,000 per week by the end of March.
Despite these challenges, CN said it remains confident about its future prospects. CN reiterated its fiscal year 2018 guidance to deliver adjusted diluted earnings per share in the range of C$5.25-C$5.40 this year.
Alltech, Lexington, Ky., reported the March 8 passing of its founder and president, Dr. Pearse Lyons, 73, due to an acute lung condition that developed during his recovery from heart surgery.
Immediate survivors include his wife Deirdre, daughter Aoife, son Mark, and Mark’s wife, Holly.
Dr. Lyons’s family asked that any expressions of sympathy, including memories and tributes, be shared at alltech.com/pearselyons. In lieu of flowers, the family is encouraging donations to the Alltech ACE Foundation, a 501c3 nonprofit organization that funds a variety of philanthropic endeavors around the world, from disaster relief to primary schools in Haiti. Donations may be made at alltech.com/pearselyons.
To continue his vision, Alltech said Dr. Lyons established a clear leadership structure, including: Dr. Mark Pearse Lyons, chairman and president; Alric Blake, CEO and treasurer; and Michael Castle II, vice president and secretary. Deirdre Lyons will continue as director of corporate image and design, sharing Dr. Lyon’s commitment to philanthropy and community involvement.
Public visitation in Lexington will be on March 16. Arrangement details will be kept up to date on alltech.com/pearselyons. Funeral masses will be held in Lexington on March 17 and in Dublin, Ireland, in April.
OCI Partners LP, Nederland, Texas, reported fourth-quarter net income of $13 million on sales of $98 million, up from a year-ago loss of $17 million on sales of $66 million. EBITDA was $38 million, up from $16 million.
“Our ammonia and methanol production units operated efficiently during the quarter and both experienced three days of downtime, resulting in capacity utilization rates of 102 percent and 97 percent, respectively,” said President and CEO Ahmed El-Hoshy.
“Methanol prices increased compared to the same quarter last year and compared to the third quarter of 2017, benefiting from good demand from both the Methanol-to-Olefins (MTO) sector in China and global construction activity, as well as tight supply,” he added. “After reaching multi-year low levels in the third quarter of 2017, ammonia prices increased throughout the fourth quarter, driven by firming phosphate and urea end markets and several supply curtailments in key export hubs.
“Looking forward to the first quarter of 2018, we expect our business to benefit from a recent increase in methanol and ammonia prices,” he said. While noting that the Tampa price was down at $305/mt CFR in March, he said first-quarter 2018 prices were still higher than fourth-quarter 2017.
OCIP is also looking forward to closing a recently announced new Term Loan B Facility and Revolving Credit Facility (GM Feb. 23, p. 25) in the coming weeks, which will allow it to reduce debt service costs and increase maturities.
On the results of the fourth quarter, OCIP announced a cash distribution of $0.27 per common unit, or approximately $23.5 million in the aggregate.
| Avg Prices $/mt | 4Q-17 | 4Q-16 | 2017 | 2016 |
| Ammonia | 246 | 199 | 240 | 258 |
| Methanol | 319 | 257 | 325 | 213 |
| Natural Gas | 3.00 | 3.10 | 3.13 | 2.57 |
| Production 000 mt | 4Q-17 | 4Q-16 | 2017 | 2016 |
| Ammonia | 85 | 83 | 312 | 332 |
| Methanol | 222 | 203 | 822 | 823 |
The company reported full-year preliminary and unaudited results on Feb. 5 in anticipation of company meetings with debt investors (GM Feb. 9, p. 26). Full-year net income was $24 million on sales of $343 million, up from a 2016 loss of $51 million on sales of $258 million. EBITDA was $127 million, up from $59 million.
