The nitrogen fertilizer industry has changed forever. That's the view of Gene Rurak, the vice-president of Marketing and Sales for Westco Fertilizer. He spoke Wednesday in Saskatoon at a meeting sponsored jointly by the University's Soils and Crops Workshop and the Saskatoon branch of the Saskatchewan Institute of Agrologists. Rurak says high natural gas prices are a North American phenomena. Natural gas is abundant and has a much lower price in other parts of the world.
Natural gas is the major component of nitrogen fertilizer.
The tripling of natural gas prices in North America has caused a big shutdown in North American fertilizer manufacturing. High cost manufacturers have closed their doors. Rurak says nitrogen fertilizer manufacturing is unlikely to ever expand in North America. Instead, it will gravitate to regions of the world where natural gas is far less expensive. Western Canada is an exporter of nitrogen fertilizer and the needs of Western Canadian farmers will continue to be filled from manufacturers here, but don't expect the product to return to the price levels of a year ago.