On the white plains of Chile's lithium-rich Atacama desert, bright pink flamingos enliven the sprawling salt flats where sporadic blue pools provide much needed hydration.

Chilean miner SQM, a major producer of lithium, on Wednesday reported a near twelve-fold rise in quarterly profit as it benefited from higher prices of the metal used in electric-vehicle batteries.

Canadian fertilizer company Nutrien Ltd intends to build a $2 billion U.S. plant to produce ammonia with low carbon emissions, it said on Wednesday, in the sector's latest move to meet rising global demand for clean energy.

U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said on Wednesday that he is in "intense contact" with Russia, Ukraine, Turkey, the United States and the European Union in an effort to restore Ukrainian grain export as a global food crisis worsens.

U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said on Wednesday that he is in "intense contact" with Russia, Ukraine, Turkey, the United States and the European Union to try and restore Ukrainian grain shipments and revive Russian fertilizer exports.

U.N. chief Antonio Guterres is expected to publicly disclose on Wednesday that he is in talks with Russia, Ukraine, Turkey, the United States and the European Union aimed at restoring Ukraine grain shipments and reviving fertilizer exports from Russia and Belarus, U.N. officials said.

Tunisia has resumed phosphate exports after 11 years, and expects to ship more than 300,000 tonnes this year due to a sharp increase in global demand and at least 600,000 tonnes next year, a senior official of the state phosphate company told Reuters on Tuesday.

The Kremlin said on Tuesday that Russian fertiliser producers were trying to fulfil contracts despite Western sanctions against them, which posed a risk to global food security.

The Kremlin said on Tuesday that Russian fertiliser producers were trying to fulfil contracts despite Western sanctions against them, which posed a risk to global food security.

The United States supports efforts by U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres to get Ukrainian grain back into the international marketplace amid the war, the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations said on Monday.