FERTILISER and explosives company Incitec Pivot was battered by the global financial crisis and volatility in its markets during the past year.
Managing director James Fazzino told shareholders at the company's annual general meeting in Melbourne last week there were unprecedented reductions in global fertiliser demand and volatility in prices.
He said fertiliser purchases were down 30 per cent in Australia, 20-25 per cent in the US and 30 per cent in Latin America.
The company made a $179.9 million loss in the last financial year.
Mr Fazzino and chairman John Watson fielded questions about ethical trading and the date of the December 23 AGM.
A shareholder asked why the meeting was being held "within 10 hours of Christmas Eve, one of the busiest days for social wind downs."
Mr Watson said the meeting had to be held within the 2009 calendar year and December 23 was the earliest convenient date.
Shareholders were met by protestors outside the exhibition centre, who later asked why Incitec bought phosphate rock from a Moroccan company.
Australian Western Sahara Association spokeswoman Cate Lewis said the rock was taken from the Western Sahara, that had been colonised by Morocco.
