Cowen analyst Charles Neivert said the annual Prospective Plantings report, due out on Friday, March 29 at noon, is likely to create some volatility around fertilizer shares as it represents the first important data point for the upcoming U.S. agricultural season. Grower economics favor corn over soybean acres as of now, said Neivert, who noted that expectations are for corn and wheat acres to rise, soybean acres to decline, and cotton acres to remain about flat. Agricultural chemicals stocks covered by the firm included CF Industries (CF), Nutrien (NTR), Intrepid Potash (IPI), CVR Partners (UAN) and Mosaic (MOS).

CF Industries and JERA , Japan's largest energy company, announced that they have executed a joint development agreement, or JDA, to explore the development of greenfield low-carbon ammonia production capacity at CF Industries' Blue Point Complex in Louisiana. The JDA will guide JERA and CF Industries' evaluation of a joint venture agreement to build an approximately 1.4M metric ton capacity low-carbon ammonia plant. JERA is contemplating a 48% ownership stake in the project as well as an agreement to procure more than 500,000 metric tons of low-carbon ammonia annually to meet demand for low-carbon fuels in Japan. JERA and CF Industries previously had signed a memorandum of understanding to explore a potential joint project development and sales and purchase of low-carbon ammonia. JERA and CF Industries aim to reach a final investment decision on the proposed project within a year for commencing production in 2028. JERA intends to replace coal with low-carbon clean ammonia in its existing thermal coal power plants to reduce CO2 emissions. JERA is currently conducting the world's first commercial-scale demonstration test of fuel ammonia substitution at its Hekinan Thermal Power Station.