CVR Partners (NYSE:UAN) executives highlighted strong nitrogen fertilizer pricing and constructive market conditions even as fourth-quarter results were weighed down by lower production tied to a planned turnaround and unexpected third-party downtime at the partnership’s Coffeyville facility.
Fourth-quarter and full-year results
For the fourth quarter of 2025, CVR Partners reported net sales of $131 million, a net loss of $10 million, and EBITDA of $20 million. The partnership’s board declared a fourth-quarter distribution of $0.37 per common unit, payable March 9 to unitholders of record as of March 2.
Operations: Coffeyville turnaround and third-party air separation downtime
CEO Mark Pytosh said fourth-quarter ammonia plant utilization was 64%, impacted by a turnaround and a delayed startup at Coffeyville. While the turnaround was completed in early November as scheduled, the company experienced additional downtime after “approximately three weeks of startup issues” at a third-party air separation plant, which lowered production and sales volumes versus expectations.
CFO Dane Neumann said fourth-quarter EBITDA declined versus the prior-year quarter primarily due to lower production and sales volumes and higher direct operating costs associated with the planned turnaround at Coffeyville.
Neumann provided production and sales details for the quarter:
- Total ammonia production of 140,000 gross tons, with 62,000 net tons available for sale
- UAN production of 169,000 tons
- UAN sales volume of approximately 182,000 tons at an average price of $355 per ton
- Ammonia sales volume of approximately 81,000 tons at an average price of $626 per ton
Despite the lower volumes, Neumann said pricing was notably higher than the prior-year quarter, with fourth-quarter UAN prices up about 55% and ammonia prices up about 32% year over year.
Costs, capital spending, and liquidity
Direct operating expenses for the fourth quarter were $81 million, including approximately $14 million of turnaround expenses. Excluding inventory and turnaround impacts, direct operating expenses increased by about $9 million from the fourth quarter of 2024, primarily due to higher repair and maintenance and personnel expenses, Neumann said.
Capital spending was $27 million in the fourth quarter, including $17 million for maintenance capital. For the full year, capital spending totaled $57 million, including $35 million for maintenance capital.
Looking ahead, the company estimated 2026 maintenance capital spending of $35 million to $45 million and growth capital spending of $25 million to $30 million. Neumann said a “significant portion” of 2026 growth capital spending is expected to be funded from cash the board elected to reserve over the past several years.
CVR Partners ended the quarter with total liquidity of $117 million, consisting of $69 million in cash and $48 million of availability under its ABL facility. Neumann noted that about $3 million of the cash balance related to customer prepayments for future delivery of product.
In describing cash available for distributions, Neumann said the partnership generated $20 million of EBITDA in the quarter and had net cash needs of about $16 million for interest, maintenance capital expenditures, and other reserves, leaving $4 million available for distribution, supporting the $0.37 per-unit payout.
Market outlook: tight supply, strong demand, and global volatility
Management said nitrogen fertilizer market conditions remained “constructive” and pricing “robust,” with optimism heading into the spring planting season. Pytosh cited USDA estimates for a record crop year, including corn yields of nearly 187 bushels per acre on nearly 99 million acres planted and soybean yields of 53 bushels per acre on more than 81 million acres. He added that corn inventory carryout levels are expected to be above the 10-year average, while soybean carryout is expected to be below the 10-year average.
Pytosh said May corn prices remained around $4.45 per bushel and that expectations were for approximately 95 million acres of corn to be planted in 2026, which he said would support strong nitrogen fertilizer demand. He also emphasized supply-side tightness globally, pointing to geopolitical risk given significant nitrogen capacity in the Middle East, North Africa, and Russia, and said 2026 could bring “higher than historical volatility.”
On natural gas, Pytosh said U.S. gas prices rose earlier in the year due to extreme cold but then declined, trending between $3 and $4 per MMBtu. In Europe, he said natural gas averaged over $10 per MMBtu in the fourth quarter and has been over $13 since the beginning of the year. He said European ammonia production costs remain “durably at the high end of the global cost curve,” and production remains below historical levels, creating opportunities for U.S. Gulf Coast producers to export ammonia to Europe.
First-quarter 2026 guidance and project priorities
For the first quarter of 2026, Neumann said the partnership estimates ammonia utilization of 95% to 100%. He projected direct operating expenses of $57 million to $62 million (excluding inventory impacts) and total capital spending of $25 million to $30 million.
Pytosh said the company continues executing debottlenecking projects at both plants aimed at improving reliability and production rates, with a target of operating utilization above 95% of nameplate capacity excluding turnaround impacts. For 2026, he said focus areas include water and electricity reliability and quality at both plants and expanding diesel exhaust fluid (DEF) production and loadout capacity, among other projects.
He also said the company continues work on construction and design plans for the feedstock diversification and ammonia expansion project at Coffeyville, which management expects would allow the facility to choose an “optimal mix of natural gas and third-party petcoke” depending on prevailing prices. Pytosh said the board continued reserving capital for these projects in the fourth quarter and expects to spend the funds over the next two years.
During the question-and-answer session, Pytosh said UAN imports were not “outside the norm,” though he pointed to reduced tonnage from Trinidad due to the Nutrien plant and an upgrader being down, which he said was keeping the U.S. UAN market tight. He said Russian product has been “pretty consistently falling” and that the market was watching reports of drone strikes involving Russian fertilizer plants or export terminals.
On customer prepayments and deferred revenue, management said year-end deferred revenue was lower largely due to timing, noting the company typically sees more activity in December for customer tax planning but saw less this year, with activity shifting into January and early February. Pytosh said the partnership had a “normal” book for spring and “maybe a little bigger” than typical.
Pytosh said first-quarter pricing in the current order book was higher than in the fourth quarter, though he said the increase was not expected to be dramatic. He also said management was confident the issues behind the air separation plant delayed startup had been addressed, but added the company was in discussions with the service provider on a revised operating approach and that “it won’t be status quo.” He noted the contract includes penalties and some penalties were paid, but described them as a fraction of the value of lost production.
About CVR Partners (NYSE:UAN)
CVR Partners, L.P. (NYSE: UAN) is a publicly traded master limited partnership focused on the production and marketing of nitrogen fertilizer products. Headquartered in Sugar Land, Texas, the partnership owns and operates two nitrogen fertilizer plants in Coffeyville, Kansas, where it manufactures ammonia, granular urea, and urea ammonium nitrate (UAN) solutions. These products are essential nutrients for a wide range of row and specialty crops, helping growers optimize yield and soil fertility across diverse agricultural applications.
The partnership’s operations center on two integrated facilities connected by pipeline, rail and trucking infrastructure, enabling efficient logistics and year-round production.
