CF Industries Holdings, Inc. is an American manufacturer and distributor of agricultural

fertilizer A fertilizer or fertiliser is any material of natural or synthetic origin that is applied to soil or to plant tissues to supply plant nutrients. Fertilizers may be distinct from liming materials or other non-nutrient soil amendments. Man ...

s, including

ammonia Ammonia is an inorganic chemical compound of nitrogen and hydrogen with the chemical formula, formula . A Binary compounds of hydrogen, stable binary hydride and the simplest pnictogen hydride, ammonia is a colourless gas with a distinctive pu ...

urea Urea, also called carbamide (because it is a diamide of carbonic acid), is an organic compound with chemical formula . This amide has two Amine, amino groups (–) joined by a carbonyl functional group (–C(=O)–). It is thus the simplest am ...

, and

ammonium nitrate Ammonium nitrate is a chemical compound with the formula . It is a white crystalline salt consisting of ions of ammonium and nitrate. It is highly soluble in water and hygroscopic as a solid, but does not form hydrates. It is predominantly us ...

products. The company is based in

Northbrook, Illinois Northbrook is a suburb of Chicago, located at the northern edge of Cook County, Illinois, United States, on the border of Lake County, Illinois, Lake County. It is part of a collection of upscale residential communities north of Chicago and belon ...

, a suburb of

Chicago Chicago is the List of municipalities in Illinois, most populous city in the U.S. state of Illinois and in the Midwestern United States. With a population of 2,746,388, as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the List of Unite ...

, and was founded in 1946 as the Central Farmers Fertilizer Company. For its first 56 years, it was a

federation A federation (also called a federal state) is an entity characterized by a political union, union of partially federated state, self-governing provinces, states, or other regions under a #Federal governments, federal government (federalism) ...

of regional

agricultural supply cooperative {{Commons cat, Industrial agriculture Agricultural revolutions Commercial farming Eutrophication Industrial agriculture Nutrient pollution ...

s. CF then

demutualized Demutualization is the process by which a customer-owned mutual organization (''mutual'') or co-operative changes legal form to a joint stock company. It is sometimes called stocking or privatization. As part of the demutualization process, member ...

, and became a publicly traded company.

Operations

CF Industries operates nine manufacturing complexes worldwide comprising 17 ammonia plants, the largest of which is in

Donaldsonville, Louisiana Donaldsonville (historically ) is a city in, and the parish seat of Ascension Parish, Louisiana, Ascension Parish in the U.S. state of Louisiana. Located along the River Road of the west bank of the Mississippi River, it is a part of the Baton ...

. The primary operating subsidiary is CF Industries, Inc.

History

The company was founded in 1946 as the Central Farmers Fertilizer Company, a

of regional

agricultural supply cooperative {{Commons cat, Industrial agriculture Agricultural revolutions Commercial farming Eutrophication Industrial agriculture Nutrient pollution ...

s. The company became CF Industries in 1971. CF

in 2002 and made an

initial public offering An initial public offering (IPO) or stock launch is a public offering in which shares of a company are sold to institutional investors and usually also to retail (individual) investors. An IPO is typically underwritten by one or more investm ...

of shares of equity stock in 2005. Since 2008, the shares of CF Industries have been included in the

S&P 500 The Standard and Poor's 500, or simply the S&P 500, is a stock market index tracking the stock performance of 500 leading companies listed on stock exchanges in the United States. It is one of the most commonly followed equity indices and in ...

index of large-cap stock prices. In April 2010, CF Industries acquired Terra Industries, Inc., following protracted negotiations that included an attempt by rival fertilizer manufacturer

Agrium Agrium Inc. was a major retail supplier of agricultural products and services in North America, South America and Australia and a wholesale producer and marketer of all three major agricultural nutrients and a supplier of specialty fertilizers ...

to purchase CF and efforts by

Yara International Yara International ASA is a Norwegian chemical company. It produces, distributes, and sells nitrogen-based mineral fertilizers and related industrial products. Its product line also includes phosphate and potash-based mineral fertilizers, as we ...

to purchase Terra. acquiring five production complexes in North America, a 50% interest in a joint venture in Point Lisas, Trinidad, and a 50% interest in the

GrowHow Yara Suomi Oy (formerly Kemira GrowHow Oyj) is a fertilizer producer headquartered in Espoo, Finland. Its products are sold in over 100 countries but it has market stronghold in Northern Europe. Most of the revenue (55%) comes from Western E ...

joint venture in the United Kingdom. In 2013, Mosaic Company agreed to buy CF Industries' phosphate business for $1.4 billion in cash. On July 1, 2015, CF Industries announced an agreement to acquire remaining 50% interest in

from Yara International for $580 million. On August 6, 2015, CF Industries announced that it will combine with OCI N.V.'s European, North American and Global Distribution businesses for $8 billion. The combined company will be domiciled in the UK and it will use the CF Industries name. On May 31, 2016, CF Industries announced the termination of the proposed combination with the European, North American and Global Distribution businesses of OCI. On September 15, 2021, CF Industries announced that it was halting operations at its two UK production complexes due to high natural gas prices. The halt in operations created a potential for a shortage in the UK of food grade CO₂; a byproduct of ammonia production that is critical to sectors from beer and soft drinks to food packaging and meat. CF Industries' UK facilities had been the source of 60% of the country's food grade CO₂. On September 21, the UK government announced a short-term arrangement whereby the government would provide limited financial support to CF Industries for three weeks in order to support the immediate restart of operations and CO₂ production at its

Billingham Billingham is a List of towns in England, town and Civil parishes in England, civil parish in County Durham, England. The town is on the north side of the River Tees and is governed as part of the Borough of Stockton-on-Tees unitary authority ...

, Teesside, plant. In June 2022, CF Industries permanently shut their fertiliser factory in

Ince, Cheshire Ince is a village and civil parishes in England, civil parish in the unitary authority of Cheshire West and Chester and the ceremonial county of Cheshire, England. It is situated immediately to the east of the Stanlow Oil Refinery. It shares Inc ...

, due to continuing high gas prices and environmental taxes.

References

External links

*
Corporate profile
– CF Industries' history * * {{DEFAULTSORT:CR Industries Agricultural supply cooperatives Companies based in Deerfield, Illinois Companies listed on the New York Stock Exchange Fertilizer companies of the United States Former cooperatives of the United States 2005 initial public offerings Agricultural cooperatives in the United States Cooperatives based in Illinois