"PotashCorp cuts guidance after slow start to 2012" (POT)

From Agrimoney:

A worse-than-expected start to 2012 has prompted PotashCorp cut its guidance for profits, and sales, over the full year, despite supporting observations from rival Mosaic over a rebound in demand over the last month.

The Canada-based group, which in January unveiled profits short of market expectations, acknowledged that it had remained too optimistic over the potash market's recovery from weakness prompted by world economy jitters and a fall in crop prices.

"Although we anticipated that an increase in global fertilizer purchasing would not take hold until the latter half of the first quarter, it took longer than we expected for demand to emerge," Bill Doyle, the PotashCorp chief executive, said.

With "buyers on all major potash markets slow to commit to new purchases", the group's sales of potash, by volume, plunged by more than one-half to 1.2m tonnes in the January-to-March period,  compared with the same period in 2011.

"Most dealers chose to defer major purchasing decisions rather than build inventory," the group said.

Recovery has begun 

The market had recovered since China the top importer, last month agreed a potash deal, surprising many observers who had expected the country to extend negotiations in the hope of a better price....MORE