PRESIDENT OF POTASH
Jones upbeat over future
Sitting in her office on the 11th floor of the Scotia Centre, her back to a wraparound view of autumn bursting along the banks of the South Saskatchewan, Susan Jones contemplates her new position as head of the world’s largest supply of potash.
It’s a big job: Jones is responsible for six of the 10 potash mines currently operating in Saskatchewan, as well as a supply chain that carries the pink-hued fertilizer from the Canadian prairies to India, China and 40 or so other countries around the world.
But Nutrien Ltd.’s new president of potash — a lawyer from Calgary who spent 13 years with Agrium Inc. before its blockbuster merger with Potash Corp. of Saskatchewan Inc. earlier this year — seems more interested in the people who actually use potash.
In a wide-ranging interview this week, she covered a broad range of topics and — perhaps not surprisingly given Nutrien’s Feeding the Future tag line — framed her upbeat answers around the farmers who fertilize their fields with Saskatchewan potash.
“We’re always looking to meet the demand of the market, and because we have the intelligence coming from our retail network we know where that demand is and we also know where we can help farmers in their application,” she said of the new combined company.
Nutrien was formed Jan. 1 in response to what the heads of Agrium and Potashcorp deemed “fierce” market conditions: A saturated global fertilizer market that caused prices to crumble from US$900 per tonne in 2008 to less than US$200 per tonne two years ago.
The deal raised some eyebrows in Saskatchewan, leading thenpremier Brad Wall to warn about the possible loss of head office jobs to Agrium’s base in Calgary. While there were some layoffs, Nutrien has since committed to build a new headquarters at River Landing.
Besides savings from integration, the combination of PotashCorp’s mines and Agrium’s retail business is though to be an advantage.
Pointing to an uptick in potash sales during the last 12 months, as well as an expectation farmers around the world will use two million more tonnes this year compared to 2017, Jones said she believes the potash market to be in a “mode of recovery.”
“In the last five years we’ve seen global demand growth of between four and five per cent. That is exceeding the historical average, and what we would expect to see longer-term. Our longer term expectations are two-and-a-half to three per cent growth,” she said.
The industry, however, is not without challenges. As it emerges from a period marked by cutbacks — Potashcorp closed one mine in New Brunswick and dramatically scaled back production at its Cory mine near Saskatoon — there is more supply on the horizon.
K+S Potash Canada recently began production at the province’s first greenfield mine in a generation, while BHP is waiting to make a decision on its massive Jansen mine, the first stage of which could add four million tonnes total to the market each year.
Jones, however, dismissed concerns about supply once again outpacing demand, saying it will likely “layer into” demand to create a “fairly stable recovery.” She also suggested Nutrien does not intend to use its production capacity to raise prices and keep competitors out.
“From my perspective, that’s not a natural way to operate in the market. We want to make sure we have continual supply that’s feeding the market (and) we’re actually meeting the demand growth and most importantly we’re there for the farmers when we need it.”
Meanwhile, Jones is eager to improve diversity in the company — a perennial challenge for Saskatchewan’s mining industry, where women are heavily outnumbered by men — by building on an internal program aimed at addressing women’s needs on mine sites.
Asked about the possibility of another rail backlog, like the one that led the company to issue more than 600 temporary pink slips after filling two mines’ storage facilities, Jones said the company is planning for winter, “which we all know comes every year.”
She was similarly optimistic about trade uncertainty with the United States — as Canada works to renegotiate the North American Free Trade Agreement, saying she expects any effects to be “short-term,” in part because the U.S. doesn’t have potash reserves.
One thing she says won’t be short-term, however, is her time in the city: “I’m super excited to be in Saskatoon, to be living with the people of Saskatchewan … It’s a really vibrant community and I’m super excited to be a part of it.”
We want to make sure we have continual supply that’s feeding the market.