Adecoagro’s nine-month adjusted EBITDA hit a record $471.8 million as fertilizers out-earned sugar and ethanol, with Q3 urea volumes up 30.8%.
Adecoagro reported $471.8 million in adjusted EBITDA for the first nine months of 2026 on November 11, an all-time high for a nine-month period, with its fertilizer business now out-earning its flagship sugar and ethanol segment.
“Adjusted EBITDA reached $471.8 million in 9M26, reaching an all-time high for a nine-month period,” the company said in its third-quarter earnings release, which also set monthly production records for urea and ammonia. Adjusted EBITDA is a non-GAAP measure, and the figures come from the company’s own reporting.
Fertilizers now the biggest earner
The Fertilizers segment, consolidated through the Profertil acquisition and treated on a pro forma basis from January 1, 2025, contributed $283.1 million of nine-month adjusted EBITDA, against $195.0 million from Sugar, Ethanol and Energy. That marks a shift in the company’s earnings mix.
Fertilizer sales rose 16.0% in the third quarter as urea volumes climbed 30.8% on accelerating demand ahead of South America’s 2026/27 planting season. Year-to-date sales were up 25.0%, supported by an average urea price of $561 per ton, 16.9% higher than the first nine months of 2025.
The Sugar, Ethanol and Energy segment posted $101.1 million of adjusted EBITDA in the quarter, 16.0% lower year over year, and fell 10.7% on a nine-month basis. Year-to-date cane crushing reached 10.4 million tons, up 5.9%, although third-quarter crushing slipped 5.1% because of above-average rainfall in September.
Costs rise on the stronger Brazilian real
The company’s cane productivity was strong, with total recoverable sugars per hectare up 24.0% in the nine-month period. Even so, sugar production costs climbed to 9.2 cents per pound from 8.3 cents a year earlier, a rise the company attributed to appreciation of the Brazilian real, a headwind for all Brazil-based agricultural exporters.
On the balance sheet, pro forma net debt to last-twelve-month adjusted EBITDA stood at 3.2x. Excluding the Caarapó mill acquisition, consolidated into segment metrics on September 1, 2026, leverage would have remained at 3.0x, in line with the second quarter.
Adjusted net income declined year over year in both the quarter and the nine-month period, which the company said mainly reflected higher interest expenses on the debt taken on to finance the fertilizer acquisition, along with higher income taxes on higher pre-tax income.
Adecoagro has hedged 100% of its 2026 sugar production at an average of 16.5 cents per pound, and 41% of expected 2027 production at 18.3 cents. The company held its earnings conference call on November 12 at 12 p.m. US EST.
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