WINNIPEG, Man. (Reuters) — Fertilizer producer and farm supply dealer Nutrien Ltd. expects American farmers to plant as many as 95 million acres of corn next year, the most in seven years, after a frustrating year of floods, its chief executive said.
The wet conditions left millions of acres unplanted across the United States farm belt, but have also lifted corn prices and given farmers incentive to sow more next year, chief executive Chuck Magro said on a July 30 quarterly conference call.
Chicago December corn futures traded at US$4.21 per bushel July 30, up more than 10 percent from a year earlier.
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“We do expect a pretty significant rebound in market fundamentals in 2020,” Magro said. “You can see it in crop pricing futures but you can also see it in some of the business we’re seeing in crop protection (products) in the third quarter.”
“2020 is setting up to be a very good agricultural year.”
Shares of Saskatoon, Saskatchewan-based Nutrien jumped eight percent in Toronto, despite cutting its full-year profit forecast due to wet U.S. weather this spring that lowered spending by farmers on key inputs, such as fertilizer.
The company’s quarterly results, nonetheless, showed resilience against what Nutrien called “the worst U.S. planting season in history,” Raymond James analyst Steve Hansen said.
Nutrien is the world’s biggest fertilizer producer by capacity, and owns the largest network of farm retail supply stores in the United States.
