Tel Aviv-Lower potash volumes due to delayed price negotiations continued to impact ICL Group in the third quarter ending Sept. 30, 2006. However, those lower volumes are now history, with the company inking new deals with China and India that will expand sales over previous levels. Operating income from ICL Fertilizers was $60.8 million on sales of $392.4 million for the third quarter, versus the year-ago $108.2 million and $397.9 million, respectively. Nine-month income was $161.3 million on sales of $1.03 billion, compared to the year-ago $277.1 million and $1.21 billion, respectively. ICL’s major Chinese customer has agreed to buy more than 2 million mt during the three-year period from Jan. 2007-Dec. 2009, a 30 percent increase over the previous three-year deal. Likewise, two major Indian customers have agreed to buy about 800,000 mt during the nine-month period from Aug. 2006-April 2007, compared to about 900,000 mt shipped to India for all of 2005. ICL-wide, third-quarter net income was $94.8 million on sales of $854.3 million, versus the year-ago $114.7 million and $727.0 million. Nine-month net income was $283.7 million on sales of $2.42 billion, compared to the year-ago $311.2 million and $2.2 billion, respectively.
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