Compass Minerals International Inc. announced sales results for the fourth quarter ended December 2012. For the quarter, the company's highway deicing sales volume, which includes all highway maintenance products sold in the U.S., Canada and the U.K., as well as rock salt sold to the chemical industry, totaled approximately 2.3 million tons compared with sales of 2.7 million tons in the 2011 quarter. The year-over-year decline was the result of high customer carry-over inventories following last season's mild winter and continued mild weather early this season.

The milder-than-average start to this winter further reduced demand for all of the company's deicing products, pushing both highway deicing and consumer and industrial sales volumes approximately 15% lower than last year. These lower sales volumes contributed to elevated per-unit salt costs similar to the 2011 quarter.