May 9 (Reuters) - Canadian fertilizer producer Nutrien ( NTR )

is seeing strong interest from prospective buyers in

its retail assets in Argentina, Chile and Uruguay, CEO Ken Seitz

said in an interview on Thursday.

The company prefers to sell the assets, which supply

fertilizer and other products to farmers, as a package, he

said.

WHY IT'S IMPORTANT

Nutrien ( NTR ) wants to improve its earnings' stability and

Argentina's currency controls make operating in the country

complicated.

Since 2019, Argentina's peso has been kept artificially

strong by strict capital controls that create a wide gap between

the official exchange rate and parallel rates.

KEY QUOTES

"It's a challenging environment because of the currency

controls for foreign investors. But if you're domestic and are

interested in agricultural retail, it's a different story

because you can keep the pesos in (Argentina)," Seitz said.

"If we want to repatriate those dollars, there is a

significant haircut. (Argentina) is not a big enough component

of our overall earnings stream to have that kind of headache and

all of that also consumes a lot of management time. We have

better opportunities to focus on in our core geographies."

CONTEXT

Nutrien's ( NTR ) decision to sell the assets comes as its nearby

Brazil operations struggle with management turnover.

Fertilizer companies have faced volatility since Russia's

invasion of Ukraine sent prices skyrocketing in 2022 only to

collapse the following year as farmers held off on purchases and

supplies stabilized.

BY THE NUMBERS

Argentina, Chile and Uruguay account for 3% of Nutrien's ( NTR )

global retail sales, Chief Financial Officer Pedro Farah said on

a quarterly call.

WHAT'S NEXT

The company is running a typical sales process, Seitz said,

with a data room for prospective buyers that sign non-disclosure

agreements. He declined to say what price Nutrien ( NTR ) is seeking.

Nutrien ( NTR ) has no timeline for completing the sale, Farah said.

(Editing by Aurora Ellis)