Global grain yields at risk on nitrogen crunch: CF

Global grain yields at risk on nitrogen crunch: CF

Houston, 5 November (Argus) — The prevailing squeeze in nitrogen fertilizer availability is expected to dent global grains production in the upcoming crop cycle at a time when corn and soybean stocks are already at multi-year lows, US nitrogen producer CF Industries said.

Nitrogen production across the US and Europe has been hobbled since the third quarter by prolonged turnarounds, Hurricane Ida-related downtime and record-high natural gas costs. Meanwhile, major producing countries China and Russia implemented restrictions on fertilizer exports — fueling multi-year highs for nitrogen fertilizer prices and restricting availability to major agricultural regions, such as Brazil and India.

The feedstock-driven production outages in Europe pushed regional buyers to the import market, fostering increased competition with India and Brazil for limited offshore fertilizer supplies.