Agrimoney.com | Mosaic retreats as fertilizer caution bites
Mosaic revealed the closure of a US potash mine, and the exit from fertilizer distribution businesses in Argentina and Chile, as it warned of "cautious" market behaviour which had landed it with a sharp drop in profits.
The US-based fertilizer giant said that it had "made several portfolio optimisation decisions", including the closure of a Michigan potash site and a focus on South American distribution on Brazil, in a July-to-September quarter in which its earnings fell to $124m...
The group said that its potash selling price averaged $342 a tonne in the latest quarter, down 24% to the lowest in nigh-on three years...
Indeed, Mosaic forecast its potash selling price potentially falling below $300 a tonne, set to average $285-310 a tonne in the current, October-to-December quarter.
However, he was upbeat over longer-term prospects, forecasting "a cyclical reversion, as demand growth absorbs the additional supply of phosphate and potash", encouraged by lower prices.
"We believe the current challenges in the environment in which we operate, for both phosphate and potash, are cyclical," he said, terming Mosaic's long-term outlook "compelling.
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