Australia’s IPL halts talks to sell fertilizer unit IPF
Australian chemicals and fertilizer producer Incitec Pivot (IPL) has stopped negotiations to sell Incitec Pivot Fertilizers (IPF) to Indonesian fertilizer producer Pupuk Kalimantan Timur (PKT).
The sale fell through as both parties were unable to complete the sale in an acceptable timeframe for IPL to start their on-market buyback of up to A$900mn ($606.5mn). IPL will focus on its buyback program in the near term, it said on 10 July.
IPL previously said in May that the sale of its fertilizer businesss was in "advanced negotiations".
IPL's first-half 2024 earnings before interest and tax (ebit) fell by 77pc on the year to A$10mn, it said in its first-half 2024 report on 16 May. Its distribution business continues to perform well this year, while 2024 financial year production volumes at Phosphate Hill are likely to be closer to the lower end of the range of 730,000-770,000t indicated in its first-half 2024 report, the company said.
Related news posts
More Egyptian urea production offline: Update
More Egyptian urea production offline: Update
Adds Abu Qir's plant closure Amsterdam, 16 July (Argus) — Egyptian fertilizer firms Kima and Helwan stopped granular urea production today, citing gas shortages, while Abu Qir has halted prilled urea output. Kima's 570,000 t/yr and Helwan's 650,000 t/yr granular urea plants are both offline, having operated at 80pc of capacity since 2 July. Abu Qir's 578,000 t/yr prilled urea plant has also gone off line. It is unclear when the plants will restart, the producers said. Kima's plant is in Aswan and Helwan's is in El-Tebbin-Helwan, while Abu Qir's facility is outside of the port of the same name. Most of the country's remaining urea plants are still operating at 80pc. Mopco is running only two of its three granular urea plants at 80pc, while EFC's production status has yet to be confirmed. A gas supply crunch in Egypt has hampered urea production since 20 May, as the country prioritised gas deliveries to power plants to meet summer cooling demand. But LNG imports eased the balance at the beginning of July. Egypt fixed at least 17 LNG cargoes in a 25 June tender — seven for July, six for August and four for September. The country is seeking to bolster LNG import capacity as gas production falls and domestic demand rises. Urea export offers have yet to emerge as all producers are assessing the market and the majority are likely to initially focus on delivering previously committed volumes for export and to meet local demand. But Argus understands that some traders were offered Egyptian granular urea at $380-390/t fob for loading in late July and early August. No deal has emerged yet. By Dana Hjeij and Harry Minihan Send comments and request more information at feedback@argusmedia.com Copyright © 2024. Argus Media group . All rights reserved.
Egypt’s Kima and Helwan stop urea production
Egypt’s Kima and Helwan stop urea production
Amsterdam, 16 July (Argus) — Egyptian fertilizer producers Kima and Helwan stopped urea production today, citing gas cutbacks. Kima's 570,000 t/yr and Helwan's 650,000 t/yr granular urea plants have both gone off line, having operated at 80pc of their respective capacities since 2 July. It is unclear when the plants will return to operation, Egyptian producers said. Kima's plant is located in Aswan, and Helwan's in El-Tebbin-Helwan. Most of the country's remaining urea plants are still operating at 80pc. Mopco is running only two of its three granular urea plants at 80pc of full capacity, while EFC's production status has yet to be confirmed. A gas supply crunch in Egypt has hampered urea production since 20 May, as the country prioritised gas to power plants to meet summer cooling demand. But LNG imports eased the gas market balance at the beginning of July. Egypt fixed at least 17 LNG cargoes in a 25 June tender — seven for July, six for August and four for September. The country is seeking to bolster LNG import capacity as gas production falls and domestic demand rises. Urea export offers have yet to emerge as all producers are assessing the market and the majority are likely to initially focus on delivering previously committed volumes for export and to meet local demand. But Argus has heard that some traders were offered Egyptian granular urea at $380-390/t fob for loading in late July and early August. No deal has yet emerged. By Dana Hjeij Send comments and request more information at feedback@argusmedia.com Copyright © 2024. Argus Media group . All rights reserved.
Pakistan urea demand drops on lower wheat prices: NFDC
Pakistan urea demand drops on lower wheat prices: NFDC
Amsterdam, 15 July (Argus) — Urea consumption in Pakistan fell to 483,000t in June, down by 21pc on a year earlier, with the country's National Fertilizer Development Centre (NFDC) attributing the drop to lower wheat prices and delayed sowing in the summer months. June output fell to 483,000t from 610,000t in the month last year and 737,000t in June 2022. Urea consumption in April-June was down by 18pc at 1.21mn t. The NFDC attributed the fall to lower wheat prices and the delayed sowing of crops in the summer Kharif season, which runs from April-September. But the NFDC did note that urea offtake may pick up in the rest of the season. The dire situation facing farmers has prompted Pakistan's government to impose an indefinite ban on wheat imports into the country, as of 12 July , in a bid to stabilise domestic wheat prices. This may subsequently encourage local urea purchases. The lacklustre consumption so far this Kharif season has eased pressure on urea supplies, with countrywide stocks unexpectedly climbing slightly through one of the peak-demand months of the summer season, up by 6,000t to 231,000t. Domestic production of 497,000t also added some support to inventories last month, but this was down from 548,000t in June last year. Pakistan's state-owned importer TCP has issued a tender to buy 150,000t of urea, closing on 29 July, which will add further support in August-September when cargoes are set to arrive. But the country is still facing a potential tightness of urea supply in July-August, should consumption levels pick-up soon and the import cargoes ship from origins with a long sailing time. The NFDC is projecting consumption of 750,000t and 615,000t in July and August, respectively, which may leave stocks as low as 29,000t by August, without factoring in imports. The cargoes must arrive in Pakistan by 25 September, TCP's tender document stipulated. By Harry Minihan Send comments and request more information at feedback@argusmedia.com Copyright © 2024. Argus Media group . All rights reserved.
Germany's Aurubis copper smelter back from maintenance
Germany's Aurubis copper smelter back from maintenance
London, 12 July (Argus) — Germany's Aurubis today announced that its Hamburg copper smelter returned to service on 11 July from the largest maintenance shutdown in the company's history that began 7 May. A restart is now under way following the €95mn 60-day maintenance that included an overhaul of the flash smelter, installation of heat exchangers in the contact acid plant, as well as the installation of a tap hold drill and tamping machine for improved safety of copper slag tapping. Hydrogen-ready anode furnaces were also installed as measures to improve sustainability. Investments in automation are set to improve efficiency and extend the frequency of planned maintenance rounds to three years from two. The Hamburg smelter's outage has exacerbated sulphuric acid tightness in Europe , and the operational restart is expected to provide some relief to the market. This comes in addition to the lack of availability of molten sulphur in the region, leading to shortages of sulphur burnt acid , which has prompted some consumers to replace burnt acid with smelter acid, lifting demand. Aurubis produced 1.19mn t of sulphuric acid during the first six months of the 2023-24 financial year (October-March), up by 1pc on the same period a year earlier. Output at Aurubis' Hamburg smelter rose by 11pc to 512,000t in the period, while output from the Pirdop smelter saw a 6pc decline on the period to 679,000t . For the first three months of the year, Aurubis produced 598,000t of acid, unchanged from the same quarter of 2022-23, as increased output at its Hamburg smelter offset a decline from Bulgaria's Pirdop plant. Production at Hamburg totalled 258,000t from January-March. By Maria Mosquera Send comments and request more information at feedback@argusmedia.com Copyright © 2024. Argus Media group . All rights reserved.
Business intelligence reports
Get concise, trustworthy and unbiased analysis of the latest trends and developments in oil and energy markets. These reports are specially created for decision makers who don’t have time to track markets day-by-day, minute-by-minute.
Learn more