The Mosaic Co Thursday said its fiscal second-quarter earnings slipped 39% as the sale of an equity investment increased the year-ago results though phosphate and potash sales rose in the latest period, the news reports said.

The producer and marketer of concentrated potash and phosphate said for the quarter ended November 30, the company reported a net profit of $623.6 million or $1.40 a share, down from from $1.03 billion or $2.29 a share  reported in the year ago period.

Its net sales surged 13% to $3.01 billion. Its gross margin widened to 29.2% from 28.7% driven primarily by higher selling prices and partially offset by higher phosphate raw material costs and lower volumes. Meanwhile, sales of phosphates and potash rose 10% and 20%.

The fertilizer producing company has posted strong results for several quarters on account of growing worldwide demand for food, which has widenend its margins as higher selling prices have outpaced a jump in input costs, the reports said. The company will also cut the production of phosphate by 250,000 tonne over next three months in response to market oversupply.

Mosaic  expects record demand for crop fertilizers next year. The capital expenditures of the fertilizer producer totaled $387 million in the quarter. Its total cash and cash equivalents stood at $3.6 billion and long-term debt was $1.0 billion at November 30, 2011.  

Jim Prokopanko, President and Chief Executive Officer of Mosaic said, “Our excellent results demonstrate the strength of underlying agricultural fundamentals combined with effective execution by our businesses.” 

Mosaic is a producer and marketer of concentrated phosphate and potash. The business engages in every phase of crop nutrition development, from mining of resources to production of crop nutrients, feed and industrial products for customers around the globe. Its customerbase includes retail dealers, wholesaler and individual growers in more than 40 countries.