this may help tomorrow

Good results just released from U.S. peer Potash Corp:

Potash Corp. of Saskatchewan posted record first-quarter results, beating analyst expectations, and bumped its full-year earnings forecast slightly higher as rising global food demand continued to fuel crop-nutrient sales.

The world's largest potash producer said strong demand and improved prices for all three of its key crop nutrients -- potash, phosphate and nitrogen -- resulted in record first-quarter gross margin of $1.1 billion, up from $729 million a year earlier.

"Tight global grain inventories, strong crop returns and the need to address nutrient deficiencies are powerful motivators for the world's farmers, and the impact was evident in our record first-quarter results," Potash Corp. president and chief executive, Bill Doyle, said in the company's earnings release.

Saskatoon, Sask.-based Potash earned $732 million or 84 cents a share, up from $444 million or 49 cents a year earlier. That's in line with the company's forecast for earnings of 70-90 cents a share and above the the Thomson Reuters mean estimate of 80 cents.

Sales of $2.20 billion were up from $1.71 billion a year earlier and also ahead of the $2.01 billion analysts were expecting.

Higher prices and sales volumes boosted potash gross margin to a first-quarter record of $743 million, up 40% from a year earlier. Potash sales volumes totaled 2.8 million metric tons, up 13% from a year earlier and average realized prices totaled $366 a ton, up $45-a-ton from a year earlier.

Phosphate gross margins more than doubled to $150 million in the latest quarter, while nitrogen margins jumped 50% to $203 million.

The company continues to forecast strong demand and is projecting 2011 potash segment gross margin of $2.7-$2.9 billion and total shipments of 9.6-10.0 million tons.

Potash Corp. expects second-quarter earnings of 70-90 cents a share and full-year earnings of $3-$3.40 a share, which is slightly ahead of its most recent forecast of $2.80-$3.20 a share