Cargill saw a decline in underlying quarterly earnings for the first time since 2009, depressed by a "softer" period for its food ingredients division and a drop in profits from energy.

The Minneapolis-based agribusiness giant, one of the world's biggest privately-held companies, said that its underlying earnings for the March-to-May period fell 7.1% to $404m, despite a 32% surge to $34.8m in revenues.

The decline was the first since the September-to-November period of 2009, when the company reported earnings "moderately" lower year on year when stripped of the contribution from Mosaic, the fertilizer group in which Cargill sold its majority stake three months ago.

It also follows a mixed period for listed rivals, with corn processor Corn Products International reporting a doubling in earnings, while a sharp fall in earnings at Bunge reflected one-off effects, with underlying profits beating analysts' forecasts.

Archer Daniels Midland last week reported quarterly earnings below the result a year before, and missing Wall Street forecasts, thanks to higher tax rates and the impact of higher corn costs in cutting profits from processing the grain into sweeteners and starches.

Agriculture vs energy 

Cargill said its decline reflected a "softer quarter" in the food ingredients division, which also includes sweeteners and starches operations, besides businesses ranging from Australian beef to the North American Horizon milling business.

In the risk management division, "results declined… due to lower earnings among the energy businesses", which span coal, emissions trading, petroleum and natural gas.

However, the agriculture services division was helped to a "strong" quarter by a deft hand in crop futures trading, a skill which also lifted earnings in origination and processing.

"The segment used its global sourcing and risk management capabilities to deliver reliably to customers while meeting challenges posed by weather-related crop production problems in key growing areas, changing trade flows and fluctuating commodity prices," Cargill said.

'Port in the storm'

Greg Page, the group's chairman and chief executive, said that this theme of reliable supplies was key to the group's ability to lift earnings from continuing operations for the year to the end of May by 35% to $2.69bn.

"From weather-related supply shocks in food commodities, grain export restrictions and rising energy prices to the uneven global economic recovery, looming sovereign debts and deficits, political unrest and natural disasters – the uncertainty led to volatile prices across a range of raw materials," Mr Page said.

"Cargill sought to be a 'port in the storm' for our customers, sourcing food and feedstuffs from multiple origins, handling the logistics, managing the risk and delivering reliably."

The earnings figures exclude a one-off gain of $359m from the sale of the Mosaic stake.