A PYMNTS Company

Canada: Farmers fear market power of Agrium-PotashCorp merger

By  |  September 13, 2016

Farm groups in both Canada and the United States are sounding warning notes over the possibility of higher prices and less competition from the pending merger of Potash Corporation of Saskatchewan and Calgary-based Agrium Inc.

The $36-billion US deal will create a massive player in the fertilizer industry. National Bank Financial says the merged firm, if approved, would control almost two-thirds of potash capacity in North America, 30 per cent of phosphate production capability and 29 per cent of nitrogen capacity.

The deal would also leave US firm Mosaic as the only other major North American potash producer.

Saskatchewan farmer Terry Boehm, chair of the National Farmers Union’s seed and trade committee, said it is unclear what the merger deal would mean for farmers, but past agricultural industry consolidation has him wary.

“Our experience with mergers, whether it be in herbicide manufacturers, seed companies, etc., has always led to higher costs to the farmer as we have very little power to negotiate as individual farmers, or even as small collectives, …with these behemoths that are being formed,” Boehm told Peter Armstrong, host of CBC News Network’s On The Money.

Full Content: CBC

Want more news? Subscribe to CPI’s free daily newsletter for more headlines and updates on antitrust developments around the world.