Saudi Arabia Fertilizers Company (Safco) blamed lower product prices and reduced sales quantities as it reported a 38 per cent drop in third-quarter net profit on Sunday that was broadly in line with analysts' forecasts.

Safco, a unit of Saudi Basic Industries Corp (Sabic), made a net profit of SR566 million ($151 million) in the three months to September 30, down from SR913 million ($243.5 million) in the year-earlier period, it said in a bourse statement.

Five analysts had forecast the firm would make a quarterly net profit of SR579 million ($154.4 million).

The firm had reported declining profits in eight of the preceding nine quarters, Reuters data shows.
Safco, a big producer of ammonia and urea, is dependent on global demand and prices.

Since mid-2013, manufacturers worldwide have voiced increasing concerns over the continued fall of urea prices due to China's increased output.

Safco blamed its latest profit drop on lower product prices, plus lower sales quantities because of maintenance work at one of its plants, Safco 4.

In July, Safco began commercial operations at its Safco 5 urea plant, which it said helped reduce the impact of the maintenance work on profits. Safco 5 was originally scheduled to start up in the third quarter of 2014; it has an annual production capacity of 1.1 million tonnes of urea. - Reuters