(Reuters) — Global farm commodities merchant Bunge Ltd. recently reported a higher quarterly adjusted profit and raised its full-year earnings forecast by 21 percent on robust demand and tighter supplies of essential crops since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
The war exacerbated already thin supplies of grain and oilseeds after weather-reduced crops in South America and other key production areas, boosting demand and lifting crop processing margins for Bunge.
The results mirrored the robust earnings reported by rival Archer-Daniels-Midland Co. on April 26, the day previous to the Bunge report.
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Bunge’s results highlighted how global grains merchants have weathered surging crop prices and supply chain disruptions triggered by the Russia-Ukraine war. The two nations supply nearly a third of the world’s wheat exports, a fifth of globally traded corn and around 80 percent of sunflower oil.
Bunge’s agribusiness unit, its largest one, reported a seven percent drop in volumes and a nearly 15 percent rise in net sales on the back of strong soybean crushing margins in the United States, Europe and Brazil.
Weaker soft seed crushing results in Europe and China partly offset those gains.
The company’s refined and specialty oils unit saw adjusted earnings jump 45 percent on stout food and fuel demand in North America.
Bunge’s milling segment profit increased fourfold from a year earlier, propelled by higher margins and volumes in the U.S. and South America.
Excluding the one-off items, earnings were US$4.26 per share, compared with $3.13 per share a year earlier, topping the consensus analyst estimate of $2.94, according to Refinitiv IBES, a markets data company.
Bunge raised its full-year adjusted earnings guidance to $11.50 per share, from $9.50 previously, in response to the strong quarter and a favourable crush margin outlook.
