CF Industries Lifts Profit as Fertilizer Prices Climb
Adjusted EBITDA rose 57% to $1.19 billion as higher pricing offset lower fertilizer volumes.
CF Industries Holdings (CF), the nitrogen fertilizer producer, nearly doubled second-quarter net earnings as higher selling prices outweighed weaker volumes.
The quarter extended the company’s earnings momentum despite a production outage at its Yazoo City complex. Net earnings rose 88% from a year earlier to $727 million and increased 18% from the first quarter, when results included a roughly $170 million litigation-settlement gain.
Net sales climbed 17.6% to $2.22 billion and rose 11.9% sequentially. Gross margin expanded 11.6 percentage points to 51.5%, while companywide sales volume fell 15% to 4.25 million tons. Excluding lost Yazoo City production, volume was about 9% below the prior year.
Granular urea led the major segments, with sales rising 39% to $759 million as volume increased 8% and the average selling price climbed 29% to $593 per ton. The segment’s gross margin widened 11.8 percentage points to 62.8%.
Pricing also supported UAN and ammonia results. UAN’s average selling price rose 37%, helping its gross margin reach 57.1% despite a 27% volume decline. Ammonia sales increased 19% as its average price jumped 50%, overcoming a 20% drop in volume. The AN segment posted a negative 5.6% gross margin after volume fell 66%.
Natural-gas cost used in production was nearly unchanged from a year earlier at $3.37 per MMBtu and declined 26% from the first quarter. CF maintained its full-year gross-ammonia-production forecast at approximately 9.5 million tons, though it now expects to restore the Yazoo City complex during the first half of 2027, later than its previous estimate of late 2026 at the earliest.
CF accelerated second-quarter share repurchases to $230 million and had $1.48 billion remaining under its authorization at June 30. The board raised the quarterly dividend 20% to $0.60 a share, while permitted construction at the Blue Point One low-carbon ammonia project is scheduled to begin in August.