Reuters — Nutrien Ltd. on Monday raised its full-year earnings forecast well above estimates after posting a more than 10-fold jump in first-quarter profit, as the world’s largest fertilizer company benefits strongly from soaring prices of crop nutrients.
Prices of essential crop nutrients such as potash and phosphate skyrocketed in the quarter, touching near-record levels, as sanctions imposed on major exporter Russia for its invasion of Ukraine disrupted supplies that were already tight.
Demand for fertilizer has also been strong as an inflation-induced surge in prices of major crops is driving farmers to increase production.
Read Also
Senft to step down as CEO of Seeds Canada
Barry Senft, the founding CEO of the five-year-old Seeds Canada organization is stepping down as of January 2026.
“Global agriculture and crop input markets are being impacted by a number of unprecedented supply disruptions that have contributed to higher commodity prices and escalated concerns for global food security,” interim CEO Ken Seitz said in a statement.
Seitz also said Saskatoon-based Nutrien could potentially expand its low-cost fertilizer production capability.
The company, however, forecast a cut in global potash shipments for the year, citing supply uncertainties from Russia and Belarus.
Nutrien expects 2022 adjusted earnings of $16.20 to $18.70 per share, compared with its previous forecast of $10.20 to $11.80 per share (all figures US$). Analysts were expecting $15.20 per share, as per Refinitiv data.
Net earnings rose to $1.39 billion, or $2.49 per share, in the quarter ended March 31 from $133 million, or 22 cents per share, a year earlier.
Excluding items, it posted a profit of $2.70 per share, but missed estimates of $2.75.
Earlier, rival Mosaic Co., the world’s largest producer of finished phosphate products, posted a more than sevenfold surge in quarterly profit that narrowly beat estimates.
Mosaic said its potash and phosphate shipments were delayed by poor rail performance, adding that rail cycle times would not likely recover to normal levels until the second half of 2022.
The company earned $2.41 per share, excluding items, while analysts were expecting $2.40.
The bottom lines for major fertilizer makers including Nutrien, Mosaic and CF Industries have been expected to benefit from recent sanctions on Russia and Belarus.
Nutrien had said in March it would ramp up its annual potash output in response to the uncertainty of supply from Eastern Europe.
However, Joel Jackson, senior analyst at BMO Capital Markets Equity Research, cautioned Monday that Nutrien may face challenges in finding the labour to ramp up that capacity.
High fertilizer prices may also eventually be partially offset by soaring natural gas prices, particularly for nitrogen-based fertilizer makers such as CF, Morningstar equity analyst Seth Goldstein said.
“For companies like Mosaic and Nutrien that are vertically integrated and mining their own potash, they should feel the cost inflation less than perhaps a CF who still needs to buy U.S. natural gas to make nitrogen.”
Analysts said Monday they would also be on the lookout for comments from fertilizer firms on demand getting hit due to higher prices. Farmers are already reacting by skimping on fertilizer use, stockpiling for a few years, or switching to manure.
— Reporting for Reuters by Ruhi Soni in Bangalore.
CLARIFICATION, May 3: Paragraph 6 rewritten by Reuters to clarify that Nutrien’s projection for reduced output was for the potash sector globally, not for the company specifically.
