Tel Aviv — Israel Chemicals Ltd. (ICL) reported a small increase in both net profits and revenues in the first quarter of 2012. Net profits totaled $288 million on record revenues of $1.55 billion, versus $280 million on revenues of $1.53 billion during last year’s first quarter. While revenues of its other divisions declined, the ICL Fertilizers division reported first-quarter revenues of $846 million (51.6 percent of total revenues), versus $836.7 million (51.8 percent of total revenues) in the first quarter of 2011. Gross profits for ICL Fertilizers dropped slightly, to $242.2 million versus $243.5 million in 2011. Fertilizer and phosphate sales rose to $429.8 million versus $393.7 million, an increase attributed entirely to the inclusion of sales of specialty fertilizer companies ICL acquired during 2011, which contributed $105 million in revenues during the first quarter. Phosphate fertilizer sales totaled 329,000 mt, a 32 percent decrease from the first quarter of 2011, but 2012 sales were at higher prices. Potash sales totaled 919,000 mt, compared to 1.05 million mt tons in the year-ago quarter, while potash revenues fell to $446.5 million compared to $475.5 million last year. ICL attributed the drop to a delay in signing supply agreements in China, a request for a delay in shipments to India, and high inventories in the U.S. This was partially offset by higher potash sales to Brazil, which totaled 170,000 mt. The company views Brazil as an important market, and actually increased sales despite an overall decline in potash imports to Brazil. Potash production totaled 1.212 million mt versus 748,000 mt last year, while phosphate rock production totaled 876,000 mt versus 793.000 mt in the previous year. Fertilizer production totaled 371,000 mt, versus 412,000 mt in the first quarter of 2011. ICL noted that it has witnessed an improvement in potash and fertilizer sales in the second quarter, and that it has signed contracts with Chinese importers for the sale of 670,000 mt and an option for 120,000 mt for the first half of 2012. The company also reported that during the first quarter ICL Fertilizers began selling polysulphate, a new product based on polyhalite, which is produced from mineral beds of Cleveland Potash in northeastern England. The company said that an extensive survey found more than a billion tons of polyhalite at its English facility.
Transparency Across the Fertilizer Value-Chain