CF Fertilisers UK To Temporarily Halt Ammonia Production

(RTTNews) - CF Fertilisers UK, a subsidiary of CF Industries Holdings, Inc. (CF), Wednesday announced its intention to temporarily halt ammonia production at the Billingham Complex due to market conditions.

CF Fertilisers UK intends to use the site's capability to import ammonia to enable it to continue to run its ammonium nitrate (AN) and nitric acid upgrade plants. The company expects to fulfil all ammonia and nitric acid contracts and all orders of AN contracted for delivery in the coming months.

The company said that at current natural gas and carbon prices, CF Fertilisers UK's ammonia production is uneconomical, with marginal costs above £2,000 per tonne and global ammonia prices at about half that level. The current cost of natural gas at NBP is more than twice as high as it was one year ago, with the NBP forward strip suggesting that this price will continue to rise in the months ahead.