Agrium Inc. (AGU) reported adjusted net earnings of 29 cents per share in the third quarter of 2009, missing the Zacks Consensus Estimate of 32 cents. Year over year, earnings declined a significant 87% on lower volumes and prices. Revenues were down 41% year over year to $1.9 billion on weak corn prices and lower consumption of crop protection products at retail level.  Retail segment: Retail segment revenues plunged 25% to $1.2 billion in the quarter on a 41% decline in crop nutrient sales to $345 million due to a significant decline in crop nutrient prices. Crop nutrient volumes in the quarter remained flat. Gross profit from the crop nutrients business almost halved to $31 million. Crop protection sales were $768 million in the quarter, down 12% from the same period last year. The decline was driven by lower volumes for fungicides and lower pricing for glyphosate products. ...

Illinois-based fertilizer company CF Industries (CF) posted a 26% drop in profit for the second quarter of 2009 driven by reduced volumes in the Nitrogen segment and significantly lower price realizations in Phosphate. Net earnings in the quarter were $213 million or $4.33 per diluted share, versus $288.6 million or $5.01 per diluted share in the prior year quarter. Net sales slashed 15% to $991 million due to a 10% reduction in Nitrogen volumes and lower selling prices in the Phosphate segment. Nitrogen Segment Sales in the Nitrogen segment went down 11% to $755 million. Sales volume dipped to 1.9 million tons from 2.1 million tons in the year-ago quarter. This included about 145,000 tons of granular urea and urea ammonium nitrate (UAN) solution exports. However, the segment benefited from significantly lower natural gas prices in North America. Average nitrogen selling prices were encouraging ...