Oct 29 (Reuters) - Agrichemicals firm FMC beat

Wall Street estimates for quarterly profit on Tuesday, helped by

strong sales in North America and lower costs.

FMC, which makes insecticide and fungicide, had seen a sharp

drop in demand in 2023 as high inventory levels of crop

chemicals across several regions had weighed in on earnings.

In August, the company said that it expected demand to

bounce back in most regions except India, after a year of

downturn in the industry due to high inventory levels.

FMC, which competes with the likes of Syngenta and German

firms BASF and Bayer, said its North

America revenue rose 48% compared to last year.

"Strong volume growth in Latin America and North America

more than offset lower pricing, particularly in Brazil and

Argentina which accounted for two-thirds of the total company

price decline," CEO Pierre Brondeau said.

FMC took a range of actions as part of its restructuring

plan announced in December last year, including layoffs in its

Brazil business. It also agreed to sell its global specialty

solutions (GSS) business to private equity firm-owned Envu for

$350 million.

The company forecast fourth-quarter revenue in the range of

$1.30 billion to $1.41 billion after adjusting for the imminent

sale of the GSS unit.

Wall Street estimates fourth-quarter revenue of $1.37

billion, according to data compiled by LSEG.

The Philadelphia-based company posted adjusted income of 69

cents per share for the three months ended Sept. 30, compared

with the average analysts' estimate of 53 cents per share.