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The
company forecast that strength would carry into 2022 amid rising
demand for food and biofuel and tightening crop supplies,
although the segment would likely not match last year's record
performance.
Bunge's results offer the latest look into how multinational
grain companies have weathered shifts in demand and supply chain
disruptions caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.
Bunge and rival agribusinesses Archer-Daniels-Midland Co,
Cargill Inc and Louis Dreyfus Co — known as the ABCD quartet of
grain trading giants — are now benefiting from improving demand
for food and renewable fuel as some pandemic restrictions are
easing.
Traders, however, are facing sharply higher raw materials costs
as grain and oilseed prices have surged due to a likely South
American harvest shortfall, while energy costs hover near
multi-year highs.
Forecasters have been slashing harvest estimates for Brazil, the
world's top soy exporter and major corn supplier, due to adverse
weather. Drought in neighboring Argentina has reduced harvest
prospects there.
Bunge expects 2022 adjusted earnings of at least $9.50 per
share, which the company said would be the second-highest
operational performance in the its recent history.
The St. Louis, Missouri-based company posted adjusted net income
of $533 million, or $3.49 per share, in the quarter ended Dec.
31, compared with $455 million or $3.05 per share, a year
earlier.
That topped a consensus analyst estimate of $2.87 per share,
Refinitiv Eikon data showed.
Revenue totaled $16.683 billion, up from $12.61 billion a year
earlier and above an analyst estimate of $15.167 billion.
(Reporting by Karl Plume in Chicago and Arunima Kumar in
Bengaluru; editing by Uttaresh.V and Jason Neely)
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