Yara France has announced plans to transform its site in Montoir-de-Bretagne into a state-of-the-art blending and coating unit to offer tailor-made fertilizer products. It would also be modernized into a fertilizer import terminal.
The company said it plans to offer a more complete portfolio of products in France, including ammonium nitrate fertilizers, calcium ammonia nitrate, urea + sulfur, organic-based fertilizers, and biostimulants. The company said the trend away from NPK consumption has taken a toll on the site’s operations.
“The main driver behind this very difficult decision is related to the decline of the NPK fertilizers market in France,” said a Yara spokesperson. “The consumption of compound NPK fertilizers has been divided by four in the last 20 years and fell by 50% during the last agricultural season. At the end of September 2023, the site posted a loss of nearly €40 million in EBITDA. It has been in deficit for five years out of the last six years.”
The company
said this transformation and modernization project aims to safeguard Yara
France’s competitiveness and adapt its organization to the profound changes of
a
volatile market. Yara’s other sites in France at Ambès, Le Havre, and La
Défense will not be impacted.
The company told Green Markets that Montoir will continue running until an agreement is signed with the unions’ representatives. “We are committed to ensuring business continuity throughout and to fulfilling our order book as part of our ongoing dedication to serving our customers in France,” said the spokesperson.
Once an
agreement is made, Montoir’s ammonia tanks, as well as the nitric acid and
ammonium nitrate solution production lines, would be kept and mothballed. The
company said this would allow it the flexibility to reassess the production of
nitrate-based fertilizers depending on future market developments.
Yara
said the transformation means some 139 jobs out of 171 jobs would become
redundant, though another 12 will be created. “We deeply regret that this
project has the consequence of exposing employees to the risk of dismissal,”
said the spokesperson. “We will do everything in our power to support them, in
the most respectful and transparent way possible, in agreement with the union representatives.”