Company: CF
Filing Date: 2025-02-20
Form Type: 10-K
Source: 0001324404-25-000006
Chunk: 22

Company: CF Industries Holdings, Inc.
Filing Date: 2025-02-20
Form: 10-K
Item: Item 1
Chunk 22
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 information on our strategic venture with CHS. 

Competition

Our markets are global and intensely competitive, based primarily on delivered price and, to a lesser extent, on reliability, customer service and product quality. During the peak demand periods, product availability and delivery time also play a role in the buying decisions of customers. 

Our primary competitors with North American operations include Nutrien Ltd., Koch Fertilizer LLC, LSB Industries, CVR Partners, LP and Yara International. There is also significant competition from products sourced from other regions of the world, including some with lower natural gas or other feedstock costs, which may include the benefit of government subsidies. Because ammonia, urea and UAN are widely-traded fertilizer products and there are limited barriers to entry, we experience competition from foreign-sourced products continuously. Producers of nitrogen-based fertilizers located in the Middle East, Trinidad, Africa and Russia have been major exporters to North America in recent years.

Our primary United Kingdom competition comes from imported products supplied by companies including Yara International, Origin Fertilisers, Ameropa and Thomas Bell & Sons Ltd. Urea and UAN are not produced in the United Kingdom, but along with AN are widely-traded fertilizer products with limited barriers to entry. 

Seasonality

The fertilizer business is seasonal. The degree of seasonality of our business can change significantly from year to year due to weather conditions in the agricultural industry and other factors. The strongest demand for our products in North America occurs during the spring planting season, with a second period of strong demand following the fall harvest. However, we and other fertilizer producers generally manufacture and distribute products throughout the year. As a result, we and/or our customers generally build inventories during the low demand periods of the year to ensure timely product availability during the peak sales seasons. Seasonality is greatest for ammonia due to the short application season and the limited ability of our 

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Table of ContentsCF INDUSTRIES HOLDINGS, INC.

customers and their customers to store significant quantities of this product. The seasonality of fertilizer demand generally results in our sales volumes and net sales being the highest during the spring and our working capital requirements being the highest just prior to the start of the spring planting season. Our quarterly financial results can vary significantly from one year to the next due to weather-related shifts in planting and application schedules and purchasing patterns as well as import timing, import and distribution costs and logistical limitations, such as river conditions.

Environmental, Health and Safety

We are subject to numerous environmental, health and safety