The head of Potash Corporation of Saskatchewan expects demand to pick up next year after reporting a drop in quarterly profit due to slow negotiations with buyers in China and India.
CEO Bill Doyle said the problems with China and India as well as concerns about the global economy have weighed on the company, but the need for potash hasn't gone away, he said.
"I think the China and India delays are just going to put more pressure into first quarter and first half of 2013," Doyle said.
"We think it is going to be a robust recovery year."
Saskatoon-based PotashCorp, one of the world's largest fertilizer producers, reported Thursday its third-quarter profit fell 22 per cent from a year ago.
The company said it earned $645 million US or 74 cents per share, down from $826 million or 94 cents per share a year ago. Revenue for the three months ended Sept. 30 was $2.14 billion, down from $2.32 billion in the third quarter of 2011.
The average analyst estimate had been for a profit of 77 cents per share.
