CHS Inc. on July 8 reported net income attributable to CHS of $273.6 million for the third-quarter ending May 31, 2021, compared to the year-ago $97.6 million, an increase of 180.2 percent. Significant year-over-year earnings growth was reported for all business segments, including Energy, Ag, and Nitrogen Production. Total revenues were $10.9 billion, up 50.9 percent from the year-ago $7.2 billion.
“Robust performance across CHS resulted in a very strong third quarter,” said Jay Debertin, CHS President and CEO. “Strong global demand in agricultural markets and the hard work we have been doing to gain efficiencies across our supply chain led to higher volumes in nearly every business area, significantly improving our Ag segment earnings compared to the prior year’s third quarter. We also are seeing increasing momentum in pandemic recovery as restrictions ease and vaccination efforts progress, which has had a favorable impact on our Energy segment results and overall performance.”
Third-quarter Ag income was up 47 percent, to $140.1 million from the year-ago $95.4 million. Ag revenue moved up to $9.2 billion from $6.3 billion. CHS said strong global demand drove commodity prices higher and improved trade relations between the U.S. and foreign trade partners, leading to continued higher volumes for grain and oilseed, which significantly improved Ag segment earnings compared to the prior year’s third quarter. Lower volumes of feed and farm supplies were partially offset by increased volumes for agronomy products, stemming from stronger demand due to favorable weather conditions, compared with the previous year’s third quarter. Higher overall margins were partially offset by mark-to-market losses for certain processing and food ingredients products, which the company expects to reverse over time.
Nitrogen Production income was $46.6 million, up from the year-ago $23.5 million, with the company citing increased sale prices of urea and UAN.
Energy income was $4.9 million on revenue of $1.81 billion, up from the year-ago loss of $54.8 million and revenue of $960.4 million.
For the nine months ended May 31, 2021, CHS reported net income of $304.7 million on revenue of $28 billion, versus $401.9 million and $21.5 billion, respectively.
Nine-month Ag income was $237.2 million on revenue of $23.6 billion, up from the year-ago $60.6 million and $17.2 billion, respectively, while Nitrogen Production income was $62.3 million versus $45.7 million. Energy saw a nine-month loss of $116.9 million on revenue of $4.6 billion, compared to the year-ago positive $246.3 million and $4.6 billion, respectively.
Reflecting on the strong performance, the CHS Board of Directors approved $50 million in additional equity redemptions to member cooperatives and individual owners since the December 2020 CHS Annual Meeting. The increase is incremental to $33 million in approved equity redemptions announced at the 2020 annual meeting, for a total of $83 million in planned owner equity redemptions in fiscal 2021. A distribution of $30 million in cash patronage was also made to owners in early calendar 2021, based on business transacted with CHS in fiscal 2020.