Yahoo Finance Mosaic misses estimates for Q1 profit on lower fertilizer prices
May 1 (Reuters) - Mosaic Co narrowly missed Wall Street estimates for first-quarter profit on Wednesday, weighed down by lower prices for its fertilizer products.
The firm also said its Colonsay potash mine in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, will remain idle until "market conditions improve", after it had curtailed production due to a drop in prices in the October-December quarter.
Mosaic's selling price for potash fell to $241 per tonne in the quarter from $421 per tonne a year earlier, while phosphate prices fell 9.4% to $598 per tonne.
Crop prices have declined from their 2022 peaks, when they soared following the war in Ukraine. Droughts in Brazil, one of the top producers of soybean and corn, also resulted in lower application of crop nutrients.
The company expects potash sales volumes of 2.2 million to 2.4 million tonnes in the second quarter, and phosphate sales volumes of 1.6 million to 1.8 million tonnes.
The fertilizer supplier also said its Riverview facility in Hillsborough County, Florida, is back to full capacity after a brushfire caused limited damage to ancillary operations last month.
On an adjusted basis, the Tampa, Florida-based company said it earned 65 cents per share in the first quarter, compared with analysts' estimates of 66 cents, according to data from LSEG. (Reporting by Vallari Srivastava, Sourasis Bose and Roshia Sabu in Bengaluru; Editing by Pooja Desai)
