Product switch option in the fertilizer industry

Abstract

ABSTRACT Fertilizers are extremely important to agricultural production worldwide due to the productivity improvements they allow. This paper uses the real options theory to evaluate the product switch option, ammonia or urea, in a nitrogen fertilizer plant. The Monte Carlo simulation method was used to define the value of the switch option in a fertilizer plant where the uncertainties considered are the prices of natural gas (main raw material), ammonia and urea, assuming that all of them follow a mean reversion movement (MRM). The results show that this option is relevant in the project analysis of fertilizer plants, and its consideration to the feasibility project can be considered as essential in many cases.