NEW YORK (Bloomberg) Bermuda-registered Bunge Ltd., the world's biggest oilseed processor, said second-quarter profit surged five-fold as it crushed more soybeans and sold more fertilizer. Bunge raised its 2007 forecast, sending the shares to a record high.

Net income climbed to $168 million, or $1.30 a share, from $30 million, or 25 cents, a year earlier, topping analysts' estimates, Bunge said yesterday in a statement. Sales jumped 65 percent to $9.92 billion.

Bunge, the biggest seller of fertilizer in South America, benefited from record soybean production in Brazil, the world's second-biggest grower. Operating profit from fertilizer soared almost ninefold, while agribusiness, which includes soybean processing, had profit of $107 million after a year-ago loss.

"We saw good buying of fertilizer, and crush margins all over have been very strong," Deutsche Bank analyst Christina McGlone said before results were released. She expected Bunge to earn $1.03 in the quarter and rates the shares "buy."

Bunge said profit for the year will be $630 million to $650 million, or $4.86 to $5.02 a share. That includes a gain from asset sales of $30 million, or 23 cents. In April, Bunge said profit would be $590 million to $610 million, or $4.56 to $4.71.

Shares of Bunge jumped $5.78, or 6.8 percent, to $90.86 at 12:35 a.m. in New York Stock Exchange composite trading. Earlier, they reached $94.63, the highest since the company went public in August 2001 at $16 a share. The stock has gained 76 percent in the past year.

"We expect solid performances in the second half of this year in our agribusiness and fertilizer segments, which should more than offset weaker results in edible oils," chief executive officer Alberto Weisser said in yesterday's statement.

Per-share earnings of 93 cents were expected in the second quarter, based on the average estimate of five analysts surveyed by Bloomberg.

Bunge's agribusiness unit had an operating profit of $107 million, versus a loss of $30 million a year ago, as soybean- crushing margins widened in South America. Fertilizer earnings rose to $142 million from $16 million as sales volume jumped 63 percent and prices improved.

"Fundamentals are getting stronger in Brazil as farmers are rushing to capitalize on higher soy prices by planting more soy acreage," Credit Suisse analyst Robert Moskow wrote in a note to investors after earnings were released. He expected Bunge to earn $1.07 a share.

Weisser, 52, said soybean exports to China, the world's largest buyer of the oilseed, may fall because of a fatal respiratory disease called "Blue Ear" which is infecting Chinese herds, reducing demand for soy-based feed. A Chinese agriculture ministry official today said the illness had affected more than 165,000 animals, out of a total herd of 500 million.

Shanghai JC Intelligence Co. said earlier this week that China's soybean imports may drop 1.4 percent to 27.9 million metric tons in the year through August from the previous year. The U.S. Department of Agriculture on July 12 estimated Chinese soybean purchases at 30 million tons, and projected imports of 34.4 million in the coming marketing year.

The second-quarter jump in fertilizer profit made up for a $4 million loss in Bunge's edible-oil products unit, which had a $13 million profit a year earlier, after the company was unable to pass on higher soybean costs to consumers. Profit from milled products fell 37 percent to $12 million.

Weisser today said Bunge had recouped "about one-third" of the $85 million the company lost in the first quarter in soybean trading. The wrong-way bets in the futures market helped drop Bunge's quarterly earnings 76 percent to $14 million.

Bunge's sales in last year's second quarter were $6 billion. The US is the world's biggest soybean grower.