German Industrial conglomerate ThyssenKrupp AG (TKA) reports a $1.3 billion order form CF Industries Holdings Inc. (CF) to design and construct expansions at U.S. nitrogen complexes in the coming year. TKA will facilitate construction on the expansion of CF’s Port Neal, Iowa and Donaldsville, LA production complexes.
The Port Neal expansion will increase the facility’s daily ammonia production capacity to 2,200 metric tons, 3,500 ton/day urea and 3,500 ton/day granulated urea. This location is particularly strategic as it will directly service the nation’s hotspot for fertilizer demand.
The Donaldson expansion will increase ammonia production there to 3,300 metric tons/day, 3,500 metric tons/day of urea and 3,500 metric tons/day of granular urea. In addition, this location will add a nitric acid and UAN production units on the premises.
These expansions will decrease dependence on volatile foreign sources, and make nitrogen fertilizers more accessible to the American farmer, utilizing domestic natural gas. The news comes As Egypt’s Orascom and the Iowa Fertilizer Co. breaks ground on a nitrogen fertilizer production facility in southeastern Iowa. a number of fertilizer related construction projects are underway and are expected to be completed sometime in 2015. Once the nutrient is flowing, the softening effect on nitrogen pricing could be a real game changer in American Agriculture.
