Cargill’s earnings soar on agriculture volatility

The world’s largest agricultural commodoties trader yesterday (Tues) reported net earnings of $883 million in the first quarter ended August 31, up 68 per cent from $525 million a year earlier.

Excluding earnings from its majority investment in The Mosaic Company, Cargill, a Minnesota-based company, earned $693 million, a 51 per cent increase from $458 million in the year-ago period. First-quarter revenues rose 6 per cent to $27.8 billion.
“Cargill posted a strong start to the new fiscal year,” said Greg Page, Cargill chairman and chief executive officer.
“Our results were led by the food ingredients and the commodity trading and processing segments, both of which experienced resurgence in volatility across agricultural commodity markets.
“The change put Cargill’s global breadth, trading and risk management skills more acutely into play as we worked with customers to help them manage their price risk and raw material needs.”
Among the 145-year-old company’s five business segments, earnings in food ingredients and applications were up moderately from last year, due to improved performance on a combined basis among the food ingredient and the animal protein businesses.
Origination and processing results rose significantly, as renewed market volatility and changes in trade flows created opportunities for trading and for serving customers’ price risk and raw material needs.
Industrial results were lifted by the increase in earnings attributable to Cargill’s majority investment in The Mosaic Company.