UPDATE 2-Mosaic misses quarterly profit estimates on weak prices
(Adds details on results, Q3 outlook, background in paragraphs 5-9)
Aug 1 (Reuters) - Fertilizer supplier Mosaic Co missed Wall Street estimates for quarterly profit on Tuesday, as a decline in fertilizer prices dented its margins.
Fertilizer prices continued their decline during the quarter, pressured by higher supplies as exports from top suppliers Belarus and Russia resumed, while the cost of key input materials such as natural gas fell.
The war in Ukraine and subsequent sanctions against Russia and Belarus had pushed prices to record peaks last year.
The Tampa, Florida-based company's revenue declined about 37% to $3.39 billion.
Its selling price for phosphate declined 36% to $585 per tonne.
Last month, Mosaic's Norwegian rival, Yara International , had also
missed profit estimates
due to falling prices.
However, Mosaic said it witnessed growth in demand in North America for its phosphates segment and added that its third-quarter margins would benefit from lower raw material costs.
Analysts have said that farmers had delayed purchases of fertilizers during the first quarter, waiting for prices to settle down even lower.
Its phosphate sales volumes saw a 15% rise during the second quarter and expected to average between 1.7 million to 1.9 million tonnes in the current quarter.
On an adjusted basis, the top U.S. phosphate maker reported earnings of $1.04 per share for the quarter ended June 30, compared to the average analyst estimate of $1.12 per share, according to Refinitiv data. (Reporting by Sourasis Bose in Bengaluru; Editing by Pooja Desai and Maju Samuel)
