Fertiliser co-op Ravensdown has annouced an overall group profit of $95 million and an underlying profit of $68m before tax this year.
Ravensdown fertiliser plant in Hornby, Christchurch Photo: Google Maps
Chairman Bruce Wills said it was one of Ravensdown's "best ever results" in a year of volatile pricing and global supply challenges.
He said total fertiliser sales were up slightly, at 1.22m tonnes, and revenue was up $210m on last year to $922m
"The rapidly rising international prices makes fertiliser hard to budget for our farmers," he said.
"To help them, Ravensdown focussed on product margins and yielded a FY22 group margin percentage lower than last year."
Ravensdown Shipping Services also provided a $26m boost to the group's bottom-line performance.
Chief executive Garry Diack said the co-op has positioned its balance sheet for another challenging year in 2023, with $347m of stock in store.
"Our fundamental belief is that this cash is better in use on-farm than in our hands, and our margin-based pricing approach has proven this to be the case this year," he said.
Ravensdown this morning also announed it was working with the government to invest $22m in investigating how nitrogren loss could be reduced on farms.
Ravensdown will investing $11m and the government will contribute $7.3m through the Sustainable Food and Fibre Futures Fund to the seven year programme called N-Vision.
It will look at three options to reduce leaching: a nitrification inhibitor technology, a new soil test to inform nitrogen fertiliser decisions on pastoral farms, and a fungal bio-inoculant to increase nitrogen use efficiency.