TORONTO (miningweekly.com) – The NYSE-listed stock of The Mosaic Company rose on Wednesday after the US-based concentrated phosphate and potash crop nutrients producer reported that fourth-quarter earnings had almost tripled year-over-year on the back of strong fertiliser demand.

The Plymouth, Minnesota-based company noted net earnings of $361-million, or $0.97 a share, compared with $129-million, or $0.30 a share, in the fourth quarter of 2013.

Mosaic’s net sales in the quarter ended December were $2.4-billion, up from $2.2-billion a year earlier.

“While we expected strong fourth-quarter results, demand exceeded our expectations as customers came to the market in force, seeking to replenish empty inventories ahead of an expected strong spring application season in North America,” president and CEO Jim Prokopanko explained.

The fertiliser industry as a whole finished the year with record potash and phosphate shipments, with Mosaic expecting the phosphate industry to ship between 64.5-million tonnes and 66.5-million tonnes in 2015, a record and up from the 64.6-million tonnes produced last year.

Potash shipments in 2015 were forecast at between 58-million tonnes and 60-million tonnes compared with last year’s industry-wide output of 61.1-million tonnes.

Mosaic expected to sell 2.8-million tonnes to 3.1-million tonnes of phosphates at realised prices of between $440/t and $465/t in the current quarter. The company sold 2.7-million tonnes of phosphate at an average price of $414/t during the comparable quarter last year.

Mosaic also expected to sell between 2-million tonnes and 2.3-million tonnes of potash at an average price of $270/t to $295/t in the first quarter compared with actual sales of 2.4-million tonnes of potash at an average price of $267/t a year earlier.

The company's NYSE-listed stock gained about 2% in morning trading to an intraday high of $51.19 apiece.