Agrium - about agrium

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about agrium

Agrium common shares are listed on the Toronto and New York stock exchanges under the symbol AGU.

Agrium is one of the largest publicly traded agricultural retailers in North America and one of the world’s largest producers of crop nutrients, with annual sales of approximately $3.3-billion. Agrium continues to grow its markets and operations worldwide. We are headquartered in Calgary, Alberta and have been in business for 75 years. Our Company produces and markets the major nutrients and other crop inputs required for healthy crop production to more than 30 countries worldwide.

Agrium is the only publicly traded company that is integrated from the mining of raw materials for nutrient production to selling to customers. With our recent retail acquisitions, we have become the largest agricultural retailer in the U.S. in terms of direct-to-grower sales. We also supply materials that a variety of industries use to produce goods such as aluminum products and resins. Agrium’s strategy places particular emphasis on growth opportunities that both increase and stabilize our performance through the earnings cycle.

operating and financial highlights*

	2004	2005
Employees	4,617	4,719
Net sales ($ million)	2,838	3,294
Net earnings ($ million)	266	283
Total assets ($ million)	2,661	2,785
Retail centers	224	254
Production facilities	14	13
Nitrogen production (thousand tonnes)	5,978	5,894
Phosphate production (thousand tonnes)	1,182	1,078
Potash production (thousand tonnes)	1,698	1,720
*Prior to the inclusion of Royster-Clark and Nu-Gro, acquired in early 2006. For more information on our financial performance, products, services and corporate structure, please view our annual report at www.agrium.com.

Raw Materials

We own one potash and two phosphate mines. The primary raw material for nitrogen fertilizers is natural gas, which we purchase from local suppliers.

Production

We produce over eight million tonnes of nitrogen, potash, phosphate and specialty fertilizers annually from 13 operations.

Distribution

We use our network of 77 wholesale storage and distribution facilities, retail distribution assets, and fleet of more than 3,000 leased railcars to distribute our own and third-party products.

Retail

Our 254 Retail farm centers in North and South America provide customers with crop inputs, including fertilizer, crop protection products and seed. We also provide consulting, application and other services. Specialty and Industrial Markets We sell controlled-release fertilizers, micronutrients and other specialty products for fruit, vegetable, turf and ornamental applications. Our industrial business markets products directly to forestry and metal industries.

Specialty and Industrial Markets

We sell controlled-release fertilizers, micronutrients and other specialty products for fruit, vegetable, turf and ornamental applications. Our industrial business markets products directly to forestry and metal industries.