Deere quarterly profit rises on strong equipment demand, pricing

(Reuters) - Deere & Co reported a rise in quarterly profit on Friday as higher equipment demand coupled with a robust pricing environment helped the world's largest farm equipment maker to offset inflationary cost pressures.

Gaps between the supply and demand for grains increased amid the Ukraine crisis while growing consumer demand spiked prices, putting pressure on farmers to produce more and upgrade their aging fleet. Last month, Deere's peer AGCO Corp said there would not be enough grain in the market for some time, which would support prices.

Deere sees full-year earnings to be in the range of $7.0 billion to $7.2 billion compared with previous outlook of $7.0 billion to $7.4 billion.

The Moline, Illinois-based firm's net income was $1.88 billion, or $6.16 per share, for the quarter ended July 31, compared with $1.67 billion, or $5.32 per share, a year earlier.

Total net sales and revenue rose about 22% to $14.10 billion.

(Reporting by Aishwarya Nair in Bengaluru; Editing by Krishna Chandra Eluri)