Bert A. Frost - CF Industries Holdings, Inc.
Management
Thanks, Tony. Our performance during the third quarter has positioned CF well, as we work through our fall ammonia book and continue preparations for the spring application season. First and foremost we had solid shipments in the quarter. This included a successful UAN fill program, along with 780,000 tons of UAN and urea exports combined. These efforts kept our plants running at full rates and allowed us to capture international sales when domestic customers were unwilling to take a position. We also built a strong book of business into the fourth quarter as customers accepted that significantly lower nitrogen prices were unlikely. This includes shipments from our UAN fill program, which will continue well into the fourth quarter. As a result, we are very happy with our position across our network, and have the flexibility to capitalize on market conditions in the spring. Looking ahead, we believe there is substantial support for the current price environment. During the third quarter, higher LNG and natural gas prices in Asia and Europe caused marginal producers in those regions to curtail production significantly. In fact, reported global urea outages, not including China, affected approximately 5 million metric tons of nameplate capacity, the highest for any quarter that we have on record. We believe the winter heating season will likely keep natural gas and LNG costs high for producers in Asia and Europe. China's declining role in global urea trade also contributed to higher global prices. Through August 2018, China exported less than 1 million metric tons of urea, a 72% decrease from the same period last year due to the high cost of feedstock and rigorous enforcement of environmental regulations. Additionally, the market is still absorbing the impact of U.S. sanctions on Iran. In the short-term, it appears that Iran will have fewer destinations for its exports, which could limit their participation in the global market and further reduce supply. The global nitrogen supply may be lower than many expected, demand in the short to mid-term maybe stronger. We project 93 million acres of corn to be planted in the United States, which is about 4 million more acres than 2018. This should support a good fall ammonia season. Ammonia represents a solid value to growers, and with a favorable corn to bean ratio, we expect growers to apply ammonia if weather conditions allow. Otherwise, we expect greater demand for upgraded products in the spring as farmers try to maximize yield. Additionally, industry observers think that India will tender 1 to 2 times before March and large nitrogen consuming regions such as Brazil and Europe still have to catch up on purchases. Overall, we believe this leaves CF in a very strong position through the first half of 2019, and we are looking forward to the opportunities ahead. With that, I'll turn the call over to Dennis.