CF Fertilisers has announced it will permanently close its Co Durham ammonia plant, with the NFU calling the move 'concerning' at a time of global volatility.
The decision by the fertiliser manufacturer comes after 10 months of the Billingham-based plant not being in operation.
Last year, CF Fertilisers said it had to temporarily close the site as ammonia production was "uneconomical".
But now the firm has confirmed it will permanently close the factory as producing ammonia "will not be cost-competitive for the long-term".
Ammonia is a key raw material in the production of nitrogen fertiliser and its production is energy intensive.
In 2021, British farmers used just over 3.5m tonnes of fertiliser products. Of this, 1.4m tonnes was ammonium nitrate, 213,000 tonnes was urea and 492,000 tonnes was UAN (urea ammonium nitrate).
NFU deputy president, Tom Bradshaw said the decision was "a concerning one and exposes our fertiliser market further to global volatility".
He urged the government to analyse the impact of the site's closure on the UK farming industry.
"Availability of fertiliser is a crucial element of domestic food security and relying on importing ammonia from global markets exposes British fertiliser production to possible long-term risks.
"It’s important that government now look closely at how this shift to a reliance of imported ammonia could impact our domestic food production and highlights the need to maintain access to all nitrogen fertiliser products including urea.”
The company’s proposal to permanently close the ammonia plant at its Billingham Complex could result in up to 38 redundancies at the site.
A statement by CF Fertilisers said: “CF Fertilisers has made this proposal due to its forecast that producing ammonia at Billingham will not be cost-competitive for the long-term compared to importing ammonia due primarily to projected high natural gas prices in the UK relative to other regions and the impact of carbon costs.
"The company believes that ample global availability of ammonia for import... will enable more cost-competitive and efficient production and sales of ammonium nitrate fertiliser and nitric acid for its UK agriculture and chemicals customers moving forward."
