Argentine fertilizer maker agrees to cap price

(In U.S. dollars)

CALGARY, Alberta, March 18 (Reuters) - The owners of the Profertil SA fertilizer plant and the Argentine government have reached a deal to cap urea prices so farmers will be shielded from surging costs, Agrium Inc <AGU.TO, which owns 50 percent of the plant, said on Tuesday.

Canadian-based Agrium said urea prices will be set at the current price of $410 a tonne for the upcoming growing season.

Last year, farmers in Argentina were squeezed by fertilizer shortages, partly due to outages at the Profertil plant, which suffered with natural gas supply disruptions.

Agrium said the government has also indicated that ensuring a steady gas supply for fertilizer production is a priority.

Its partner in the plant, one of Argentina's largest fertilizer facilities, is Spain's Repsol YPF (REP.MC: Quote, Profile, Research). (Reporting by Jeffrey Jones; editing by Rob Wilson)