White Plains, N.Y. — Bunge Ltd. said Oct. 25 that while results from its fertilizer business showed considerable improvement in the third quarter ending Sept. 30, 2012, compared to the first-half, it still trailed last year due to lower margins in its Brazil business. Currently, Bunge says the market is seasonally strong, but competitive. Third-quarter fertilizer earnings before interest and tax (EBIT) were $23 million on sales of $898 million, down from the year-ago $33 million on sales of $1.03 billion. Volumes were 1.79 million mt, down from 1.87 million mt. Nine-month EBIT was a negative $52 million on sales of $2.18 billion, compared to the year-ago positive $27 million on sales of $2.3 billion. Nine-month volumes were up, at 4.3 million mt from 4.24 million mt. Company-wide, Bunge more than doubled net income in the third quarter, to $297 million ($1.92 per diluted share) on sales of $17.3 billion, compared to the year-ago $140 million ($0.89 per share) on sales of $15.6 billion. Nine-month income, however, was lower at $663 million ($4.29 per share) on sales of $45.8 billion, versus the year-ago $688 million ($4.42 per share) on sales of $42.3 billion.
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