FCL fertilizer terminal

[ABfarm]

Saw on twitter today that FCL has a new $48 million dollar fertilizer terminal in southern AB. What the actual fu*k? How in the hell will that ever have any chance in hell in making any money? A full train loop track? Why for the one train of phosphate they might bring up once a year? There is one big retail down there I guess kissed enough ass to get special treatment. Hard to believe that site benefits any other retails in Alberta?
Local retail says petroleum patronage might not happen this year - gave retails money up front to help the mega retails with huge local losses look profitable upfront and to screw Calgary Coop by making them sign supply agreements(which Calgary switched food suppliers so wouldn’t get)Now Covid hit and litres dropped and margins shrunk and the cash cow refinery dried up. I try to support local but if there is no patronage or less be damned if I’m paying extra for inputs.
I guess that’s the problem with all socialist organizations - the top fat cats feast and the poor peasants starve. Maybe Mayo can come out of hiding and sell it off to some foreign company while it still has a little value.

[LEP]

Saw on twitter today that FCL has a new $48 million dollar fertilizer terminal in southern AB. What the actual fu*k? How in the hell will that ever have any chance in hell in making any money? A full train loop track? Why for the one train of phosphate they might bring up once a year? There is one big retail down there I guess kissed enough ass to get special treatment. Hard to believe that site benefits any other retails in Alberta?
Local retail says petroleum patronage might not happen this year - gave retails money up front to help the mega retails with huge local losses look profitable upfront and to screw Calgary Coop by making them sign supply agreements(which Calgary switched food suppliers so wouldn’t get)Now Covid hit and litres dropped and margins shrunk and the cash cow refinery dried up. I try to support local but if there is no patronage or less be damned if I’m paying extra for inputs.
I guess that’s the problem with all socialist organizations - the top fat cats feast and the poor peasants starve. Maybe Mayo can come out of hiding and sell it off to some foreign company while it still has a little value.

I must not be a very good coop member. I buy from the cheapest source and if it happens to be a coop so be it. If the private company is so lucrative a well run coop should be Uber profitable with the buying power that comes with a big Corp.

[the big wheel]

The coop here gets fertilizer from nutrien and the coop is cheaper than nutrien. Same with canola seed sales.

[ABfarm]

I must not be a very good coop member. I buy from the cheapest source and if it happens to be a coop so be it. If the private company is so lucrative a well run coop should be Uber profitable with the buying power that comes with a big Corp.

Coops problem is the profitability is lost in a two level system. Expensive model where another layer is inserted and both try to make money. Our local retail is showing a sharp decline in local profitability but was fine because of strong patronage from FCL. Now FCL is bleeding and wasting money on things like this fertilizer terminal and the local retail is going to have to be more profitable locally to survive. I think it going to be a long long road ahead for this company

[ABfarm]

The coop here gets fertilizer from nutrien and the coop is cheaper than nutrien. Same with canola seed sales.

They sell Nutrien canola seed? Odd. Fertilizer they would. FCL is in the middle of the deal though taking a cut. Hard to believe there would be a Better deal for the Coops then there would be for Nutrien owned outlets.

[Sodbuster]

I have been buying almost all my fertilizer and chemical from the coop for over 5 years now, Coop has beat Nutrien’s price 98% of the time and that is before dividends so that’s another bonus.

[the big wheel]

They sell Nutrien canola seed? Odd. Fertilizer they would. FCL is in the middle of the deal though taking a cut. Hard to believe there would be a Better deal for the Coops then there would be for Nutrien owned outlets.

No on the seed just meant it was cheaper a lot cheaper. Same invigor way lower price.

[Rareearth]

This is actually a brilliant manufacturing, distribution and price control strategy.

- the manufacturers have their customers owners and builders of the build out large warehouse storage facilities with off take take agreements, funding, etc

- the manufacturers don’t directly finance but control distribution, pricing

- by setting up off take agreements, and having their customers pay the upfront cost for this infrastructure, they effectively eliminate and potential competitors

- the fertilizer manufacturers ( the consortium) can run the plants at full capacity for maximum efficiency, vs start - stop shutdowns of the past

- it would be very interesting to know or chart the fertilizer terminal storage build out over the past 10 years and how it’s grown into monopolistic type market control

- the only future price discovery ( not only NOLA or Florida) will be direct imports from off shore direct wth difficult logistics

- future pricing for western canada farmers won’t be based on cost + profit manufacturing costs,
but on :
NOLA + freight + currency+ profit + opportunities + shareholder expectations + profits = farmer cost and that will be shitty, contributing to the cost structure - Canada a high cost producer of grains, etc

[ABfarm]

I have been buying almost all my fertilizer and chemical from the coop for over 5 years now, Coop has beat Nutrien’s price 98% of the time and that is before dividends so that’s another bonus.

Around here unless you factor in 10% patronage the Coops aren’t even in the game. If that patronage slips due to the refinery not printing money and building fertilizer terminals, they aren’t going to exist.

[Taiga]

I buy Co-Op fuel at the farm (delivered) and for the semi when on the road, simply because they have a good card lock network. Cargill is cheapest for fert in my region.

[Taiga]

More DEF pumps at more locations would be nice.

[Rareearth]

FYI
Delete the def