(Reuters) – Corteva Inc on Wednesday reported a 19.6% rise in operating earnings for the first quarter, driven by strong demand for crop protection products such as herbicides and insecticides.
A surge in prices of corn and soybean has encouraged U.S. farmers into pre-buying seeds and chemical sprays for spring season after the Russia-Ukraine conflict disrupted supplies from key exporting regions.
Sales of the company’s crop-protection products rose 23% in the quarter, boosted by strong early demand for herbicides in North America on supply concerns.
“Looking ahead, we expect healthy market fundamentals to continue given record crop prices, strong farm income levels and demand for food globally”, Chief Executive Officer Chuck Magro said in a statement.
The Wilmington, Delaware-based company’s net sales rose 10.12% to $4.6 billion.
Corteva said adjusted operating earnings stood at $708 million, or 97 cents per share, in the three months ended March 31, compared with $592 million, or 79 cents per share, a year earlier.
(Reporting by Rithika Krishna in Bengaluru; Editing by Shailesh Kuber)
