Net profit of 34.6% falls in Potash 3Q for $ $53 million

São Paulo, 26/10-the Canadian fertilizer maker Potash Corp. of Saskatchewan reported, on Thursday, 26, net income of $ $53 million (US $ $0.06 per share) in the third quarter of 2017, 34.6% drop compared to the $ $81 million (US $ $0.10 per share) recorded in the same period last year. Third-quarter sales stood at $ $1.23 billion, up 8.84 percent in relation to the performance of $ $1.13 billion in the same period in 2016.
The company sold a record volume of 2.9 million tons of potassium in the quarter. Most of the volumes of the Canpotex – joint venture between Agrium, Mosaic and Potash for potassium – export went to Latin America (30%), followed by China (23%) and India (14%). Other Asian markets accounted for 26% of purchases.
"We continue to see strong involvement of customers in all major markets of potassium and hopefully robust demand continue in 2018," said the company.
In China, the company''s main consumer market, it is expected that the demand continues strong. The estimate of shipments for 2017 was maintained in the range of 15.5 million to 16.5 million tonnes. As a result, the most relevant market is Latin America, whose shipments in 2017 are estimated between 12 million and 12.5 million tonnes.
According to the company, the guidance for earnings per share in 2017 was narrowed to a range between $ $0.48 and $ $0.54.