Net income was under the LSEG consensus forecast of 724 million reais, and far below the whopping four billion-real gain in the third quarter of 2022.

In a financial statement, the company said adjusted earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) came in at 5.4 billion reais, above consensus estimates of 5.15 billion reais.

JBS felt pain across key business divisions and posted net revenues of 91.4 billion reais, down 7.6 per cent year-on-year.

In the U.S., the company’s biggest market by sales revenue, beef margins fell sharply as reduced cattle herds limited the availability of animals for slaughter and raised costs, a situation also affecting rival Tyson Foods.

Citing USDA, JBS said U.S. beef exports were down 19 per cent year-on-year through end-September, mainly due to supply restrictions combined with lower Asian demand, which hurt the firm. The three main destinations of U.S. beef exports remain South Korea, Japan and China, it added.

Also in the U.S., wholesale pork prices fell about seven per cent in the quarter from a year ago, as companies made an effort to reduce stock levels, according to JBS.

The silver lining for pork was the international market, as JBS cited data from the USDA showing a 12 per cent increase in pork exports, especially to Mexico and Canada, from January to September.

In its local Seara processed foods divisions, revenues dropped 13.3 per cent year-on-year to 10.2 billion reais as export sales plunged on a persistent global chicken oversupply.

Seara’s exports in dollars slid 14 per cent from the year-ago quarter to $1 billion on lower export prices in the currency. This was partially offset by a rise in the volumes sold by the division, JBS noted.

— Reporting for Reuters by Ana Mano and Roberto Samora.

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Bunge shares rose almost seven per cent to their highest level in more than a year.

The company raised full-year profit guidance for a second straight quarter, projecting 2020 earnings of $6.25 to $6.75 per share (all figures US$). The company cited better-than-anticipated agribusiness results and a more favourable outlook for its edible oils unit despite the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.

“In our view, the team’s execution was nearly flawless this quarter,” CEO Greg Heckman said, adding that guidance was lifted “based on Q3 results and improving market trends.”

Grain traders such as Bunge and rivals Archer Daniels Midland, Cargill and Louis Dreyfus, known as the ABCDs of grain, have faced headwinds from the pandemic as shuttered restaurants and reduced travel disrupted demand for food and fuel. Infection rates are rising again globally, triggering fresh lockdowns and other restrictions.

But they have weathered the crisis better than other industries, and Bunge — whose Canadian businesses include oilseed crushing and processing and a joint stake in Prairie grain handler G3 — said its facilities continued to operate at or near normal levels.

Bunge agribusiness earnings more than doubled to $467 million on robust margins in South America, Europe and Asia and active grain sales by South American farmers. Edible oils performed better than expected, although results were down year-on-year.

Net attributable income to Bunge was $262 million, or $1.84 per share, for the third-quarter ended Sept. 30, compared with a loss of $1.49 billion, or $10.57 per share, a year earlier when Bunge took charges totaling about $1.7 billion.

On an adjusted basis, Bunge posted a profit of $2.47 per share, up from $1.28 per share a year earlier.

Net sales fell 1.6 per cent to $10.16 billion, but topped analysts’ estimates of $9.92 billion, according to Refinitiv IBES.

— Reporting for Reuters by Karl Plume in Chicago and Arunima Kumar in Bangalore.

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Canadian National Railway (CN) reported Monday it had shipped 7.76 million tonnes of grain by rail, and Canadian Pacific Railway (CP) said Friday it had moved 7.72 million tonnes.

For CN that not only marked a Q3 record, but also the seventh-consecutive month of record grain shipments, the company said in a release, including 2.43 million tonnes in August and 2.81 million tonnes in September.

“Grain demand is enabling the return to active employment of many of our people,” CN CEO J.J. Ruest said, also noting the railway’s addition of 1,500 new “locally-built, high-capacity grain cars.”

Rival CP said in achieving its record Q3 grain movements, it transported a record amount of grain in September as well, at 2.8 million tonnes.

“The CP team showed itself ready for this fall’s harvest, supporting customers and their supply chains to get grain moving off the combine and to market,” Joan Hardy, CP’s vice-president of sales and marketing for grain and fertilizers, said in that company’s release Friday.

CP said its 3,200 additional high-capacity rail cars can haul 15 per cent more volume and 10 per cent more weight than previous models, adding that its 8,500-foot trains carry 40 per cent more grain than its previous 7,000-foot trains with the older, smaller cars.

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Canadian National Railway on Tuesday reported third-quarter net income of $1.195 billion on $3.83 billion in total revenues, up from $1.134 billion on $3.688 billion in the year-earlier period.

Canadian Pacific Railway on Wednesday reported $618 million in net income on what it reported as a “record” in Q3 total revenue of $1.979 billion, down from $622 million on $1.898 billion in the previous Q3.

During the quarter, Calgary-based CP moved about 106,600 carloads of grain, down from 107,400 in its year-earlier Q3, and 14,800 carloads of fertilizers and sulphur, up from 13,800. It booked revenue per carload of $3.837 for grain, up eight per cent, and $4,459 for fertilizer and sulphur, up 13 per cent from the year-earlier Q3.

Montreal-based CN, which lists grain and fertilizer traffic as a single market segment, reported moving 145,000 carloads of grain and fertilizer during its third quarter, down from 156,000 in last year’s Q3. It also reported revenue per carload of grain and fertilizers at $3,807, up five per cent.

More generally, both railways’ quarterly reports cite what CN described as “deterioration in North American rail demand, as the economy continues to weaken.”

“CN delivered strong results, despite a softening economy,” CN CEO J.J. Ruest said Tuesday in the company’s Q3 release, adding the company “aligned resources with the weaker demand to achieve solid efficiency gains.”

CP CEP Keith Creel, in that company’s release Wednesday, said the company’s approach “puts us in a position to control what we can as we navigate softer volumes, macroeconomic challenges and geopolitical tensions into the fourth quarter.”

While CP now expects low-single digit growth in volumes handled, Creel said, “we remain confident in our guidance to deliver full-year double-digit adjusted diluted EPS (earnings per share) growth.”

Looking ahead on the rest of fiscal 2019, CN said its outlook assumes a 2019-20 grain crop in Canada “in line with the three-year average” and that the U.S. 2019-20 crop will come in below the three-year average. –– Glacier FarmMedia Network

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The publicly traded Regina company on Tuesday booked adjusted net income of $1.06 million on $4.95 million in adjusted total revenue for the quarter ending June 30, up from about $249,000 on $2.78 million in the year-earlier period.

The company in mid-May announced it would postpone its previously stated plans to ramp up its mortgage business with canola growers and for now focus its activities on “maximizing shareholder value from our existing book of business.”

The company’s board at that time decided options for “cost effective, scalable” funding of the company’s mortgage stream business “are not competitively available in the marketplace at this time, particularly in light of the trade issues with China.”

“In keeping with that decision, and with an eye on profitability, we have eliminated all sales and marketing expenses and reduced staffing to a level appropriate to our new level of activity,” CEO Doug Emsley said Tuesday in a release.

“We have also reduced (general and administrative) expenses in a number of other areas, including executive compensation, which will result in a significant overall reduction in operating expenses going forward.”

The company also bought back almost 20 per cent of its outstanding shares during the quarter, a move Emsley said “represents a prudent strategy especially in light of ongoing trade issues with China.”

Input said the “large increase” it booked in adjusted revenue from crop sales for the quarter ($3.879 million, up from $1.897 million) was a result of “weather-related delivery delays in September and resulting crop quality issues, which pushed more of the expected 2018 crop sales into the second and third quarters compared to the previous year.”

The company, as of June 30, had an active streaming portfolio of 406 producers in the three Prairie provinces: 290 in Saskatchewan, 104 in Alberta and 12 in Manitoba.

Looking ahead, the company reiterated canola prices have been soft, “due in large part to trade disruptions with China, Canada’s traditionally largest canola customer, as well as general softness in the price of U.S. soybeans, to which canola prices have a strong correlation.”

It’s “impossible to know when or to what degree canola prices will rise, or if these trade tensions will be resolved,” Input said, but lower prices have just a “moderate” effect on the company’s profitability and it has “a significant margin of safety.

“Every one of our contracts remains profitable at today’s prevailing canola prices,” the company said Tuesday. “In fact, the price of canola could fall below the marginal cost of production of our farm clients, and our canola margins would remain positive.” — Glacier FarmMedia Network

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Calgary-based CP on Oct. 18 booked net income of $622 million on $1.898 billion in revenues — its “highest ever (revenues) for any quarter” — in its third quarter ending Sept. 30, up from $510 million on $1.595 billion in the year-earlier period.

“It was a record by almost every measure and sets us up well for the remainder of the year and beyond,” CEO Keith Creel said in a release.

The company reiterated its Oct. 4 revision to its full-year guidance, calling for adjusted diluted EPS (earnings per share) to grow “in excess of 20 per cent,” compared to earlier guidance for low-double-digit growth.

Revenues from grain handling played a role in CP’s record-setting quarterly ledger, as the company’s grain business grossed $384 million, up nine per cent from the year-earlier period.

Grain carloads, however, were down one per cent at 107,400, putting the company’s revenue per grain carload at $3,565, up from $3,251 in the previous year’s Q3.

Slightly lower traffic in grains, coal and metals was more than offset by increased carloads in intermodal, energy and chemicals and potash, CP reported.

Carloads in the fertilizers and sulphur segment were flat at 13,800 for the quarter, and potash up 22 per cent at 42,300, for revenue per carload of $3,957 and $3,089 respectively, both up four per cent.

“We remain disciplined in our approach and are seeing continued and sustainable growth across our lines of business,” Creel said in the company’s release. “We have the foundational underpinnings, and the room to grow, in the weeks, months and years ahead.” –– Glacier FarmMedia Network

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Montreal-based CN on Tuesday reported net income of $958 million on total revenues of $3.221 billion for the quarter ending Sept. 30, down from $972 million on $3.014 billion in the year-earlier period.

CN CEO Luc Jobin credited the increase in revenue to “increased demand across key business segments such as frac sand, intermodal, coal and Canadian grain.”

Revenue also saw support from freight rate increases and higher fuel surcharge rates, though operating expenses rose 10 per cent to $1.762 billion, mainly on “higher costs from increased volumes and higher fuel prices,” the company said.

CN, in its Q3 report, didn’t break out any figures for Canadian versus U.S. grain traffic in its grain and fertilizers business segment, which saw about 145,000 total carloads in Q3, down from 150,000 in the year-earlier period.

The railway, in its grain and fertilizers segment, booked revenue of $492 million for the quarter, down from $497 million, for rail freight revenue per carload of $3,393, up from $3,313.

Jobin said CN is “increasing investments in our infrastructure and equipment by $100 million, for a total capital program of $2.7 billion in 2017,” and has been “hiring across our network, particularly in Western Canada.” — AGCanada.com Network

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The company, whose brands include Schneiders, Maple Leaf and, since March, Lightlife, said adjusted operating earnings rose to $65.15 million in the third quarter from $61.52 million a year earlier.

Maple Leaf’s sales increased 6.6 per cent to $908.4 million.

The company’s net earnings jumped 18.2 per cent to $37.6 million, or 29 cents per share, in the quarter ended Sept. 30.

Excluding items, the company earned 39 cents per share, beating the average analyst estimate of 38 cents, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.

The company said the prepared meats business, its biggest, witnessed margin compression due to high raw material costs.

Maple Leaf said it “implemented pricing action” during the latter part of the quarter to address those input costs.

— Reporting for Reuters by John Benny in Bangalore. Includes files from AGCanada.com Network staff.

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Calgary-based CP on Tuesday reported net income of $510 million on $1.595 billion in revenues for the third quarter ending Sept. 30, up from $347 million on $1.51 billion in the year-earlier Q3.

“Volume momentum grew over the course of the quarter, setting us up for a strong finish to the year,” CP CEO Keith Creel said in a release. “As a result, we are raising our 2017 guidance.”

CP said it now expects its adjusted diluted earnings per share (EPS) for 2017 to grow in the double digits from its full-year 2016 adjusted diluted EPS of $10.29.

Third-quarter carloads were up most significantly in the railway’s metals, minerals and consumer products segment, potash segment and energy, chemicals and plastics segment, but slipped in the automotive, grain, fertilizer and intermodal segments.

CP handled about 108,000 carloads of grains in its third quarter, down from 113,600 in the year-earlier period, for revenue per carload of $3,251, down slightly from $3,272.

Carloads of fertilizers and sulphur were also down three per cent for the quarter, at 13,800, for revenue per carload of $3,814, down 15 per cent.

Potash carloads were up 19 per cent at 34,600, for revenue per carload of $2,978, up seven per cent.

CP said its updated guidance is due to “strong year-to-date performance and a constructive volume outlook through the remainder of the year,” and noted it plans to invest about $1.25 billion in capital programs in 2017, up six per cent from 2016. — AGCanada.com Network

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The privately held company has been streamlining its operations to focus on higher-margin businesses such as food ingredients and fish feeding business, aiming to bolster earnings and capitalize on consumer trends. The efforts have lifted results in recent quarters, according to Cargill.

“We had strong results this quarter across our segments, evidence that we are on the right path forward,” CEO David MacLennan said in a release.

Cargill said adjusted operating earnings rose 50 per cent to $715 million in the third quarter ended Feb. 28, from $476 million in the same quarter a year earlier (all figures US$).

Excluding one-time items, net income climbed to $650 million from $459 million a year earlier, while revenue rose eight per cent to $27.3 billion.

Food ingredients and applications results outperformed the previous year on improvement in global sweeteners and plant-based industrial products in North America.

Cargill’s animal nutrition and protein unit also topped last year’s weak third quarter as strong North American demand for beef and improved poultry sales in Europe and Southeast Asia bolstered results.

However, lower feed ingredients sales in South Korea, where avian influenza has wiped out thousands of poultry flocks, as well as in Russia and China dampened earnings.

Profit declined in the company’s origination and processing segment, which makes money buying, selling, storing, shipping and processing crops.

Slow crop sales by farmers in Argentina and drought-reduced corn exports from Brazil weighed down profits, offsetting gains from robust grain exports from the U.S., where farmers harvested record corn and soybean crops last autumn.

Rebounding ocean freight rates and stronger year-on-year energy and metals markets helped reverse last year’s third-quarter loss for Cargill’s industrial and financial services unit.

— Karl Plume reports on agriculture and agribusiness for Reuters from Chicago.

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