Monsanto Co, which is being acquired by Germany's Bayer AG, missed analysts' quarterly profit estimate on Thursday on lower volumes and prices for corn.

Sales in the company's corn seeds and traits business dropped 6.2 per cent to US$2.72 billion during the second quarter ended Feb. 28.

The lower sales is a result of continued belt-tightening by farmers amid slumping commodity prices and a global oversupply of grain following years of bumper harvests.

Soybean business sales rose 6 per cent to US$912 million, the U.S. seeds and agrochemicals company said.

In March, Bayer won EU antitrust approval for its US$62.5 billion bid to acquire Monsanto.

Net profit attributable to Monsanto rose to US$1.46 billion, or US$3.27 per share, from US$1.37 billion, or US$3.09 per share, a year earlier.

On an adjusted basis, the St. Louis, Missouri-based company earned US$3.22 per share, missing the average analyst estimate by 8 cents, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.

Net sales fell to US$5.02 billion from $5.07 billion.