Reuters – Global grain trader Archer-Daniels-Midland Co. reported a jump of nearly 14 per cent in fourth-quarter earnings as rising biofuel demand and strong ethanol margins helped to boost operating profit at its carbohydrate solutions division.
High energy and grain costs, however, clipped earnings at the corn-processing unit, as well as its core ag services and oilseeds segment where operating profit fell from the same quarter a year earlier.
ADM’s results offer a look into how the world’s biggest grain traders are weathering the shifts in food and fuel demand triggered by the pandemic and soaring inflation.
ADM and rival agribusinesses Bunge, Cargill and Louis Dreyfus, together known as the ABCD quartet of grain trading giants, have benefited from rising demand for food and renewable fuel as economies reopen.
But surging prices for the grain and oilseeds ADM buys, sells, processes and ships around the globe have presented a challenge.
