Still, revenue missed analysts’ expectations and net earnings attributable to the company were 44 per cent lower than a year earlier. Shares were down nearly three per cent in extended trade, after setting a two-year high last Friday.

ADM said it benefited in the third quarter as North American demand for starches grew from a year ago and earlier in 2020, though food-service demand has suffered.

The company and rival grain traders like Bunge have faced headwinds from the COVID-19 pandemic as shuttered restaurants and reduced travel disrupted demand for food and fuel. But the merchants have weathered the crisis better than other industries as countries around the world are stocking up on wheat and other staples to ensure supplies.

“Reduced food service demand affected sweetener and flour volumes, though retail demand for flour remained solid,” ADM said.

Operating profit in ADM’s corn and wheat milling business, a unit known as carbohydrate solutions that includes starches and sweeteners, rose by 35 per cent from a year ago, to $246 million (all figures US$).

Profit in the nutrition unit jumped 24.6 per cent to $147 million, while profits in ag services and oilseeds — ADM’s biggest segment — rose 4.6 per cent to $436 million.

Excluding one-time items, the company earned 89 cents per share, while analysts on average had estimated 71 cents, according to IBES data from Refinitiv.

Net earnings attributable to ADM fell to $225 million, or 40 cents per share, including a 53-cent per share charge related to early debt retirement. That was down from $407 million, or 72 cents per share, a year earlier.

Revenue fell to $15.13 billion from $16.73 billion, below analysts’ estimates.

ADM said selling, general, and administrative expenses rose to $636 million from $578 million last year.

— Reporting for Reuters by Arundhati Sarkar in Bangalore and Tom Polansek in Chicago.

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The regulator did not provide details on specific companies involved in the probe, but documents filed on Jan. 30 in Federal Court show Bayer, Corteva and BASF were among those that were being investigated following a complaint from California-based online retailer Farmers Business Network (FBN).

Farm-supply wholesalers, including Cargill and Univar Solutions, are also being probed, the court documents show, confirming an earlier report by the Wall Street Journal.

The Competition Bureau said in its court filings it was seeking records and communications from the seed, pesticide and wholesaling companies involved in the probe who are alleged to have stopped supplying FBN’s newly acquired Canadian business in 2018, and some company officials urged farmers and others in the industry not to do business with the company.

Founded in 2014, FBN is developing an online marketplace that allows farmers to order crop inputs like pesticides, seed and other agricultural supplies. The company, which has been selling crop inputs through its e-commerce platform in the United States since 2016, entered Canada in November 2017.

The regulator told the court it believed the alleged conduct by the identified agriculture companies under inquiry is preventing FBN from selling branded crop inputs.

“The foregoing may impede or delay FBN’s successful expansion into the Canadian market place and/or may cause FBN to exit the Canadian market place altogether,” the regulator wrote in its court filings.

U.S. seeds and agricultural chemicals maker Corteva said it was aware of the Competition Bureau’s investigation and that it was reviewing the inquiry and intends to fully co-operate with the regulator.

Bayer also said it was co-operating with the bureau.

“We believe the actions we took in this matter fully comply with Canada’s competition law,” Bayer said.

In a statement, Cargill said it was fully co-operating with the Competition Bureau’s investigation.

“Cargill conducts business in a legal, ethical and responsible manner in each country where we do business – and Canada is no exception,” the company said.

BASF Canada, in a separate statement, confirmed the bureau is gathering information from it and “a number of entities.”

The company said it “has not contravened the Competition Act and are confident that we can address any concerns that the Commissioner of Competition may have in connection with the inquiry.”

— Reporting for Reuters by Kelsey Johnson in Ottawa and Arundhati Sarkar in Bangalore; additional reporting by Shanti Nair in Bangalore.

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The company reported better-than-expected third-quarter profits, driven by higher margins on its edible oil products in North America and Brazil. However, Chief Executive Greg Heckman projected annual earnings would fall 15 cents to 20 cents a share below 2018, excluding certain items.

The U.S. farm sector has suffered for more than a year from tit-for-tat trade tariffs with Beijing, which have cut agricultural exports from North America. An outbreak of the disease African swine fever in China has also reduced the need for soy imports used for livestock feed. China is the world’s biggest hog producer and soybean importer.

“Typical trade flows and producer marketing patterns have been and continue to be distorted,” Heckman told analysts on a conference call.

Uncertainty about the outcome of the trade war has discouraged U.S. farmers from selling harvests to processors like Bunge and rival Archer Daniels Midland Co, hurting soy crush margins. Instead, growers are keeping crops in storage.

Washington and Beijing said this month that they reached an interim trade agreement, although it has not been completed.

“The kind of on-again, off-again trade war has kind of been the worst of both worlds with the market starting to adjust as if the trade war is over when it’s not over,” Heckman said. “It’s been about as confusing an environment as we could see.”

Bunge’s agribusiness earnings before interest and taxes fell 68 percent to $153 million from a year earlier.

Excluding items, the company earned $1.41 per share, beating analysts’ expectation of 48 cents, according to Refinitiv IBES data. Net sales fell 9.5 percent to $10.32 billion, missing analysts’ estimate of $11.31 billion.

“The results on the quarter represented a solid, albeit noisy beat,” Stephens analyst Ben Bienvenu said.

Bunge’s operations in Brazil and Argentina help it offset the impact of the trade war on its U.S. business. But the company took a $1.7 billion charge related to its Brazilian sugar and bioenergy business joint venture with British energy company BP Plc.

The joint venture, BP Bunge Bioenergia, will merge the two companies’ Brazilian sugar and ethanol operations to create the world’s third-largest sugarcane processor. Bunge has previously tried to sell its Brazilian sugar operation with no success.

– Reporting by Arundhati Sarkar in Bengaluru and Tom Polansek in Chicago

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