Fertilizer Producers Add Back Cut Production Amid Lower Gas Prices

Yusuf Khan and Jenny Strasburg

European fertilizer producers are restarting production across the continent, spurred on by the recent, sharp fall in natural-gas prices, though other energy-intensive industries are taking a wait-and-see approach to their own capacity cuts.

Norway’s Yara International ASA, one of the world’s largest fertilizer companies, said that it was now operating at 65% of its European ammonia capacity—having slashed output to just over a third of its total capacity for much of the second half of this year. Commodity research firm CRU International Ltd. said Yara’s moves are in line with other producers. Overall, European fertilizer output is now at about 63% of total capacity, having previously stood at around 37% at the start of October, CRU said.