Improved mine automation helped fertilizer giant
“We're encouraged by the strength of demand and continued market stabilization that we saw in the first quarter,” president and CEO
The Saskatoon-based company saw unprecedented volatility in fertilizer markets last year that led it to indefinitely pause a planned ramp-up of potash production, and to suspend work on its
The ammonia project is still on pause, Seitz said in an interview, and the company is remaining flexible when it comes to potash production.
“We have the capacity that we need now to be able to meet ... our share of global demand,” said Seitz.
“We can grow along with the market, maintain market share, and we have capacity in place to do that over the next few years.”
Eventually, Seitz wants to deploy moreautomation, with all six of Nutrien’s underground mines becoming either fully autonomous or fully tele-remote.
"Can we take those learnings, those automation learnings, to other parts of our business? I mean, absolutely," he added.
"As we look to mechanize and automate even on some of our surface applications, those technologies, we can mobilize them into other corners of our business."
Like many companies right now,
“It's a root cause analysis on all of our potential for serious injuries,” said Seitz, adding it has revealed “extraordinary” information on some high-risk areas for the company.
In the future, Seitz sees more potential applications for AI in the business, such as in agronomic services.
“It's early days for us, but ... we definitely have test cases,” he said.
In its first quarter, the fertilizer giant reported earnings of
However, it says declining prices were partially offset by increased retail earnings, higher fertilizer sales volumes and lower natural gas costs.
Diluted net earnings per share were
Sales totalled
Two years ago, fertilizer prices spiked in March as the
This year is all about stabilization, said Seitz.
Margins are improving and normalizing across several key areas of Nutrien’s business, said Seitz, such as retail, and in geographies like
Global potash supply and demand has been "relatively balanced," the company said in its earnings release, noting that historically, demand in the first quarter has required higher shipment levels. The company maintained its 2024 full-year potash shipment forecast of 68 to 71 million tonnes.
The company also maintained its 2024 forecast for retail adjusted earnings before taxes, interest, depreciation and amortization of
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