Late spring planting and rail bottlenecks in Canada affected its earnings.
Helped by higher prices for phosphate and potash, net sales for the Mosaic Company rose by about 19 percent during the first quarter of 2018, although adjusted earnings were negatively affected by the late spring planting and other weather-related issues.
The global fertilizer company based in Plymouth said Monday that its net sales during the quarter were $1.9 billion, compared with $1.6 billion last year.
Mosaic CEO Joc O’Rourke said the company expects the positive momentum to continue because of improving market conditions and strong operational performance. In addition, O’Rourke said in a statement: “Our excellent progress on the transformational initiatives at Mosaic Fertilizantes is expected to generate substantial earnings growth in the second half of 2018.”
Mosaic is one of the world’s largest fertilizer companies, mining potash and phosphate and processing those minerals into crop nutrients. Its largest potash operations are in Saskatchewan; its biggest phosphate mines are in south-central Florida.
Earlier this year the company completed its acquisition of Vale Fertilizantes, the fertilizer unit of Brazilian company Vale SA. Mosaic agreed to purchase the business in December 2016 for about $2.5 billion to strengthen its presence in South America.
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