WHITE PLAINS, NEW YORK, U.S. — Bunge reported on Feb. 7 net income of $64 million, or 19¢ per share, for 2012, a significant drop from the $942 million or $6.07 per share in 2011.
Net sales increased to $61 billion for the year, from $56 billion in the previous year.
For the fourth quarter, Bunge reported a net loss of $610 million, or $4.17 per share, compared with a profit of $245 million, or $1.65 per share, a year earlier. 
Bunge said the fourth quarter included after-tax charges of $683 million, with a goodwill impairment charge of $327 million in its sugar & bioenergy business and provisions of $298 million related to the pending sale of its fertilizer business.
Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Alberto Weisser said the fourth quarter was weaker than expected, but noted that for the full year, the agribusiness segment achieved record EBIT of over $1 billion. EBIT for the segment in the previous year was $868 million. 
“After a slow beginning to the year, food & ingredients recovered and delivered a solid second half. And in fertilizer we took the important strategic step of agreeing to sell our Brazilian business for $750 million,” said Alberto Weisser, Bunge’s chairman and chief executive officer.
Food & ingredients EBIT for the year dropped to $166 million from $235 million in the previous year.
Drew Burke, chief financial officer, said Bunge expects a much improved year in 2013.
“In agribusiness, the combination of tight global supplies and large crops in South America should make this region the principal supplier of soybean, soy products and grain exports until Northern Hemisphere harvests begin later in the year. At that time we expect a similar situation to develop in the Northern Hemisphere. Considering our global network of assets, expertise in managing risk and export capabilities this market environment fits us well,” said 
“For the first time, in sugar & bioenergy we expect to have sufficient sugarcane to be able to operate our mills at our 21 million tons of capacity. This higher level of crush, as well as an expected improvement in ATR, should significantly reduce our unit production costs. We expect results in this segment to be significantly higher and weighted toward the second half of the year due to the seasonality of the Brazilian sugarcane harvest.
“In food & ingredients, we expect the solid performance in the second half of 2012 to continue. We should benefit from the full-year results of our acquired wheat mill in Mexico and the start-up of operations at our new multi-oil refining facility in India and our new refining and packaging facility in Decatur, Alabama, both of which should improve our operating efficiencies.
“Additionally, we expect the following for 2013: depreciation, depletion and amortization of approximately $575 million; capital expenditures of approximately $1.2 billion, pproximately 25% of which will be invested in maintenance, safety and environmental projects; and a full-year tax rate of 17% to 20%.”