White Plains, NY-Higher fertilizer volumes and margins helped boost Bunge Ltd.’s performance in the second quarter ending June 30, 2007. The company said the fertilizer results were almost entirely driven by product sales for soybean plantings, which are historically purchased in the second half. Farmers accelerated purchases due to favorable commodity prices and concerns over higher input costs. As a result, fertilizer volumes were up 63 percent, to 3.0 million mt from the year-ago 1.87 million. First-half volumes were 5.5 million, up from 3.59 million mt. Second-quarter fertilizer operating profit was up 788 percent, to $142 million on sales of $795.0 million, compared to the year-ago $16 million and $381 million, respectively. Six-month operating income was $207 million on sales of $1.4 billion, versus the year-ago $47 million and $801 million. Bunge-wide, second-quarter net earnings were $168 million ($1.30 per diluted share) on net sales of $9.9 billion, compared to the year-ago $30 million ($.25 per share) and $6 billion, respectively. Six-month net income was $182 million ($1.35 per share) on sales of $18.1 billion, versus the year-ago $88 million ($.73 per share) and $11.6 billion, respectively.
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