Yara, the Norwegian-headquartered fertiliser manufacturer, reported a 50% increase in EBITDA (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation) to $669m (€587m) on revenue that increased from $2.925bn (€2.566bn) in the final quarter of 2020 to $5.032bn (€4.414bn) for the same period in 2021.

Net income was $26m (€23m) because of exceptional losses, the largest of which was $232m (€201m) related to a mining project in Africa.

Overall performance for 2021 showed revenue up from $11.728bn (€10.335bn) in 2020 to $16.607bn (€14.567bn), with EBITDA increasing from $2.223bn (€1.950bn) to $2.804bn (€2.460bn).

Despite disruption, Yara also maintained production close to the previous year’s levels at 37.8m tonnes compared with 38.1m tonnes the previous year.

Yara explained the fourth-quarter performance by achieving higher selling prices that more than offset the higher production costs and slight reduction in output and higher fixed costs.