Producer
CF Industries Holdings
One of the world's largest ammonia producers; Donaldsonville Complex (Louisiana) is the world's largest single ammonia production complex — 4.335M MT/year capacity, 6 plants on 1,400 acres along the Mississippi River. Produced 9.8M MT gross ammonia in 2024 across all facilities. Also operates plants in Iowa, Louisiana, Courtright (Ontario Canada), Ince (UK), Billingham (UK). Added CO2 capture at Donaldsonville (2025) enabling ~1.9M MT/year 'low-carbon ammonia' for export to Japan/Korea. Joint venture with JERA + Mitsui for $4B 'blue ammonia' plant in Louisiana.
10
Inputs supplied
5
Goods downstream
4
Facilities
0
Stories
What they make
10 inputs CF Industries Holdings supplies
Click an input to see every good that depends on it, every country that produces it, and every other company in the supply chain.
chemical
CO2 (food-grade) →
chemical
Urea Nitrogen Fertilizer (46-0-0) →
chemical
Ammonium Nitrate (AN) — Fertilizer / Mining Explosive →
chemical
DEF/AdBlue (Diesel Exhaust Fluid, 32.5% Urea Solution) →
chemical
Anhydrous Ammonia (NH₃) →
chemical
Anhydrous Ammonia (NH₃) →
chemical
Urea (Granular/Prilled, 46% N) →
chemical
Anhydrous Ammonia (MAP / DAP Production) →
energy
Natural Gas (Haber-Bosch Feedstock and Fuel) →
energy
Natural Gas (Ammonia/Fertilizer Feedstock Grade) →
Where it shows up
Goods downstream
Essential goods that depend on something CF Industries Holdings makes — pick one to see the full supply chain.
Where they make it
4 facilities
CF Industries -- Donaldsonville Complex, Louisiana →
USDonaldsonville, Ascension Parish, Louisiana, USA · manufacturing_plant
World's largest ammonia production complex; 6 ammonia plants, 5 urea plants, 4 nitric acid plants, 3 UAN plants + dedicated DEF unit (completed 2017, 400,000 urea-equivalent tonnes/yr). $75M expansion underway 2024-2025 for additional DEF and merchant nitric acid. On the Mississippi River for barge logistics.
CF Industries Donaldsonville Complex →
USDonaldsonville, Louisiana · ammonia and nitrogen fertilizer production
Largest single nitrogen fertilizer production facility in the Western Hemisphere; 4.3 Mt/year ammonia capacity; 6 ammonia plants, 5 urea plants. Producing 1.9 Mt/year low-carbon ammonia via integrated CO₂ capture. Located on Mississippi River for barge distribution.
CF Industries Donaldsonville Complex — Louisiana →
USDonaldsonville, LA · chemical plant
World's largest single ammonia production complex. 4,335,000 MT/year ammonia capacity; 6 ammonia plants on 1,400 acres along the Mississippi River. Also houses 5 urea plants, 4 nitric acid plants, 3 UAN plants. Added CCS (CO2 dehydration + compression) operational 2025: captures up to 2M MT CO2/year, enabling ~1.9M MT/year 'low-carbon ammonia' for export to Japan/Korea. Joint venture $4B blue ammonia plant announced with JERA + Mitsui.
CF Industries – Billingham, County Durham (UK) →
GBCounty Durham
CF Industries ammonia production facility at Billingham, Teesside, County Durham. One of two UK CF Industries ammonia plants (the other was at Ince, Cheshire). **CRITICAL INCIDENT September 2021**: CF Industries shut this facility (and the Ince plant) due to high European natural gas prices, eliminating the primary source of UK food-grade CO2 (CO2 is a byproduct of ammonia synthesis). Within days, UK slaughterhouses, packaged food plants, breweries, and carbonated drink makers reported imminent CO2 shortfalls — dry ice production for food preservation was threatened. The UK government negotiated an emergency restart with CF Industries and provided a £30M subsidy — the first government payment to a private chemical company for food security reasons in modern memory. CF Industries has since permanently closed UK ammonia operations (restructured to import-only), removing this CO2 source from the UK supply chain.
What else they do
Business segments
The company's full revenue map — where this supply-chain role fits within their broader business.
Ammonia Production (Donaldsonville Complex)
35%Nitrogen Fertilizers (Urea, UAN, AN)
40%Industrial CO₂ & Carbon Products
8%DEF/AdBlue (Transport)
7%Low-Carbon/Blue Ammonia (Strategic)
10%
Intelligence
What's known
Sourced claims about this company's role in supply chains — chokepoints, concentration, incidents, dual-use connections.
Did you know2021
In August-September 2021, CF Industries shut its UK fertilizer plants (Ince, Cheshire and Billingham, County Durham) due to uneconomical natural gas prices. Those plants supplied approximately 60% of UK food-grade CO₂ — the CO₂ used to carbonate beer and soft drinks, to preserve meat and produce in modified-atmosphere packaging, and to produce dry ice for refrigerated food transport. Within days of the shutdowns, UK food processors and brewers declared CO₂ shortages; Coca-Cola bottling plants warned of production cuts; poultry processors said they would be unable to stun and process chickens. The UK government intervened in early September with a £7M direct subsidy to CF Industries to restart the plants. A US nitrogen fertilizer company — whose UK plants happened to capture CO₂ as a byproduct of ammonia synthesis — had become the guardian of the entire UK food supply chain's CO₂ infrastructure, without this dependency being mapped or managed by government planners.
The Guardian ↗Capacity2023
CF Industries' Donaldsonville, Louisiana complex holds a Guinness World Record as the world's largest ammonia production complex, with 4.335 million tonnes of capacity and ~8 million tonnes of total nitrogen product capacity annually. In April 2025, CF Industries and Japanese partners announced a $4 billion 'blue ammonia' plant in Ascension Parish (adjacent to Donaldsonville) that would add 1.4 million tonnes/year of carbon-captured ammonia for export to Japan under long-term offtake agreements — part of Japan's strategy to reduce carbon emissions from power and industrial sectors via imported clean hydrogen carriers.
World Record Academy ↗Origin2023
CF Industries Holdings was founded as a farm cooperative buying group in 1946 (Central Farmers Fertilizer Company), then transitioned to direct fertilizer production, completing its evolution from cooperative to publicly listed manufacturer on NYSE in 2005 (ticker: CF). CF built the Donaldsonville complex in Louisiana during the 1960s-1970s, capitalizing on proximity to Henry Hub natural gas and Mississippi River barge access. The 2010 acquisition of Terra Industries and 2015 UK acquisitions (Ince and Billingham plants, formerly part of Albright & Wilson and GrowHow) transformed CF into a global nitrogen fertilizer company. The UK plants came with a hidden strategic asset: CO₂ supply infrastructure for UK food and beverage industries — CF became responsible for ~60% of UK food-grade CO₂ supply without that fact being widely understood.
CF Industries Holdings, Inc. ↗