Yara International ASA reported net income after non-controlling interests for the second quarter ending June 30 was NOK 3,716 million (US$598 million; NOK 12.86 per share, US$2.07 per share), compared with the year-ago NOK 1,122 million (US$180.5 million, NOK 3.88 per share). Excluding net foreign exchange gain/loss and special items, the result was approximately NOK 5.22 per share (US$.84) compared with NOK 1.19 per share (US$.19) in the second quarter of 2009. EBITDA for the quarter was NOK 6,587 million (US$1.06 billion), compared with the year-ago NOK 1,259 million (US$202.5 million).
“Yara reports strong second quarter results as fertilizer margins improved and production ran at close to optimal capacity utilization. The second-quarter result benefits further from the NOK 2.6 billion (US$418 million) after-tax gain on the sale of Yara’s shares in the Brazilian phosphate producer Fosfértil,” said Jørgen Ole Haslestad, Yara president and CEO.
“The new fertilizer season has had a promising start. Global nitrogen prices have increased as demand has picked up, and European nitrate prices have started substantially higher than at the beginning of the previous season, supported by low inventories. Fertilizer demand is backed by strong consumption growth for agricultural products and concerns that last years’ record yields following favorable weather may not be repeated.”
Fertilizer margins improved as realized nitrate prices were up 13 percent compared with last year, and NPK sales to core markets replaced lower-margin tender sales. Yara’s fertilizer deliveries ended 9 percent below last year, mainly due to high nitrate sales last year when prices were reduced to cut stocks, while NPK deliveries were up 5 percent from last year. Industrial segment sales continued to rebound and were up 21 percent, with strong growth for technical nitrates to the mining industry and nitrogen chemicals to the process industry. Fertilizer production increased 17 percent from last year, when significant NPK curtailments were needed. Yara said its fertilizer stocks ended in line with last year.