Cost of feed ingredients impact Cargill’s Q3 results
Cargill reported net earnings of $445 million in the fiscal 2013 third quarter ended Feb. 28, down 42 percent from $766 million in the same period a year ago. Nine-month earnings totaled $1.83 billion, up 66 percent from $1.1 billion in the prior year. Third-quarter revenues edged up 1 percent to $32.2 billion, which brought nine-month revenues to $101.2 billion.
"Cargill's earnings were below last year's record third quarter," said Greg Page, Cargill chairman and CEO. "The current quarter demonstrated the balance that comes from Cargill's diversified portfolio. In North America, our meat processing businesses were pressured by the drought-related high cost of feed ingredients. Even though many of our global food ingredients businesses experienced higher input costs, they nearly matched their strong performance in last year's third quarter."