This is getting serious.
From Reuters:
Norway's Yara (YAR.OL) is curtailing its European ammonia output due to a surge in natural gas prices, the fertiliser maker said on Friday, in a sign of rising input costs for food production.
The cuts follow similar action by rival CF Industries Holdings (CF.N), which on Wednesday said it was halting operations at two British plants, citing high costs of natural gas feedstock.
"Including optimisation of ongoing maintenance, Yara will by next week have curtailed around 40% of its European ammonia production capacity," the Oslo-based company said.
The world's second largest ammonia producer has a European output capacity of 4.9 million tonnes per year, some 2 million of which will be affected, a company spokesperson said.
Europe can still import ammonia for its nitrate fertiliser plants from other regions of the world, where gas prices may still be lower, but the output cuts are still expected to have ripple effects.
"Higher gas prices mean inflated food prices," Carnegie analyst Morten Normann said....
....MUCH MORE
Cold and hungry is no way to go through life.
