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To: Ish who wrote (21017)	4/23/2006 8:25:49 PM
From: richardred	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 34894

It will take some time. Prices are up, but volume useage is down, due to high costs. You never know! Mosaic Swings to 3Q Loss Tuesday April 11, 8:54 am ET Mosaic Swings to 3Q Loss on Derivative Contracts; to Take Part in Gasification Project PLYMOUTH, Minn. (AP) -- Fertilizer maker Mosaic Co. swung to a fiscal third quarter loss, hurt by whopping losses on natural gas derivatives and plunging potash sales. Mosaic posted a loss of $71.6 million, or 19 cents per share, for the quarter ended Feb. 28, compared with earnings of $38.8 million, or 9 cents per share, in the year-ago quarter. Analysts, on average, expected earnings of a penny a share, according to a Thomson Financial poll. Revenue fell 6 percent to $1.07 billion from $1.14 billion in the year-ago period, mainly due to lower volumes for potash, where sales fell 24 percent because of a well-stocked supply pipeline in North America. Mosaic posted an unrealized loss of $60.8 million from mark-to-market natural gas derivative contracts, which are used to manage price and supply risk in production. Also, the company swung to a foreign currency transaction loss of $13.8 million versus a gain of $30.8 million a year ago. Those losses were primarily caused by the strengthening of the Canadian dollar against the United States dollar. "Margins in the phosphate business continue to be squeezed by high sulfur and ammonia prices, while potash sales volume dipped to historically low levels," said President and Chief Executive Fritz Corrigan. To counter operating costs and raw material prices, Mosaic plans to take part in a proposed petroleum coke gasification project near its Faustina, La., phosphate plant. The company signed a non-binding letter of intent with US Syngas LLC to begin development. Mosaic agreed to market, or buy, a majority of the 1.3 million annual tons of anhydrous ammonia produced at the complex. For fiscal 2006, Mosaic lowered its outlook for phosphate and potash sales volumes. The company now sees phosphate sales volume between 10.2 million and 10.5 million tonnes, down from its prior outlook of 10.5 million to 10.9 million tonnes. Potash sales volumes are now expected to range from 7.1 to 7.4 million tones, down 200,0000 tonnes from Mosaic's prior outlook. biz.yahoo.com