Kemira names partner; rain slows UK trade

By Roger Chesher

THE first of Kemiras “strategic partnership” agreements was announced last week.

While this has no immediate bearing on the UK marketplace, it does affirm the determination of Kemira, like Hydro, to turn the fertiliser business round.

JSC Acron, the largest producer of nitrogen and complex fertilisers in Russia, has signed an agreement with Kemira Agro OY to create a “strategic partnership regarding mineral fertiliser markets in CIS and the Baltic countries”.

A joint Finnish/Russian company, JSC Kemikrona Ltd, has been established in Russia to implement the cooperation.

Announcements on the future ownership of Kemira in the UK are expected in May.

Meanwhile the problems of nitric acid and therefore ammonium nitrate production at Immingham have yet to be resolved.

Apparently more serious than last months compressor problems, the current fault could well mean that the plant – scheduled to shut down permanently – will not be repaired in the short term.

This leaves Hydro with the problem of scheduling supplies of AN from the Continent.

A short week following Easter, a bank holiday next week and interminable rain have conspired to slow the domestic market almost to a standstill.

There are questions regarding the volume of sales still outstanding and, as the purely spot market continues, no one wants to buy fertiliser in the rain.

Importers are loath to bring in nitrogen on a speculative basis although the gap between imported and domestic prices widens.

The second-cut silage market is just about under way, with NK trading at 111-116/t farm delivered.

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