By Karl Plume and Pooja Menon
(Reuters) -Bunge Global topped Wall Street estimates for third-quarter adjusted profit on Wednesday as the closing of its acquisition of Viterra at the beginning of the quarter boosted volumes as oilseed processing margins improved.
Strong South American soybean exports boosted results in Bunge’s soybean processing and refining segment after bumper harvests in Argentina and Brazil and as top soy importer China shunned U.S. supplies due to rising trade tensions.
The earnings beat comes as Bunge and its agribusiness peers have grappled with ample global crop supplies and slumping margins, and as U.S. President Donald Trump’s tariff threats upended global trade.
Bunge’s adjusted profit of $2.27 per share for the three months ended September 30 was its lowest third-quarter result since 2019, although it topped analysts’ average estimate of $2.09 per share, according to data compiled by LSEG.
Rival grains trader Archer-Daniels-Midland lowered its 2025 profit outlook on Tuesday to a six-year low as trade and policy uncertainty sapped demand and eroded margins.
Bunge completed its merger with Glencore-backed Viterra in July, bolstering its crop marketing and origination capacity and expanding its soy processing business in Argentina.
The company’s soybean processing and refining segment posted an adjusted quarterly profit of $478 million, a 67% gain from the same quarter a year earlier, while softseed processing and refining unit profit more than doubled.
Profit in Bunge’s grain merchandising and milling division was up 56% as higher wheat milling and ocean freight earnings more than offset poor grain merchandising results.
Bunge shares were down 1.5% in premarket trading.
(Reporting by Karl Plume in Chicago and Pooja Menon in Bengaluru; Editing by Shailesh Kuber and Conor Humphries)
