White Plains, N.Y.-Bunge Ltd. reported a 251 percent drop in fertilizer earnings for the third quarter ending Sept. 30, 2009, to a loss of $127 million versus a year-ago profit of $84 million. The company cited a continued mismatch between current market prices and inventory costs. Third-quarter volumes were actually up 24 percent, at 3.8 million mt from the year-ago 3.08 million mt; however, net sales were off 37 percent, to $1.19 billion from $1.89 billion. Fertilizer posted a nine-month loss of $442 million compared to year-ago profit of $610 million. Nine-month volumes were off 5 percent, to 8.3 million mt from 8.75 million mt. Nine-month sales were off 44 percent, to $2.7 billion from $4.87 billion. Overall, Bunge reported only a 1 percent drop in net income for the quarter, to $232 million ($1.62 per common share) on sales of $11.3 billion, versus the year-ago $234 million ($1.70 per share) and $14.8 billion. Nine-month net income was off 73 percent, to $350 million ($2.48 per share) on sales of $31.5 billion, versus the year-ago $1.27 billion ($9.26 per share) and $41.6 billion.
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