The No. 3 US chemical company by revenue also raised its 2011 earnings forecast, citing its buyout of Danish food additives maker Danisco earlier this year, the benefit of currency conversion and rising demand for titanium dioxide, a chemical used to make paint.

The higher forecast came as a surprise to Wall Street, especially after DuPont warned earlier this year that the Danisco deal would dent 2011 earnings.

“We’re focused and poised to perform well in the second half of 2011,” Chief Executive Ellen Kullman said.

Kullman called on US lawmakers to reach an agreement soon on the country’s large debt and deficit.

She declined, though, to comment on a plan proposed by US House of Representatives Speaker John Boehner.

DuPont “is best served by a resolution, and the specifics of that can vary all over the place,” Kullman said.

“The uncertainty itself does create a lot of questions and a lot of fear down value chains.”

Despite the uncertainty, Kullman said DuPont has plenty of liquidity and continues to see strong demand for its products, which allowed it to boost prices several times in the past year.

DuPont offset a $540 million jump in second-quarter raw material costs with price increases totaling $756 million.

DuPont said that so far the higher prices have not dented demand for many of its popular products, especially titanium dioxide (Ti02).

“We continue to sell every ton of Ti02 we can make,” said Karen Fletcher, DuPont’s head of investor relations.

“For the remainder of the year we see no let-up in demand.”

Jeff Windau, a chemical industry analyst with Edward Jones, said the consistent price increases could come back to bite DuPont.

“It just raises some caution from our perspective,” he said.

“There may be some volatility or fluctuations that occur.”

DuPont reported net income of $1.22 billion, or $1.29 per share, compared with $1.17 billion or $1.26 per share a year earlier.

Excluding costs from the Danisco deal, earnings were $1.37 per share. By that measure, analysts expected $1.34, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.

Revenue rose 19 percent to $10.26 billion. Analysts expected $9.68 billion.

DuPont raised its 2011 earnings outlook to a range of $3.90 to $4.05 per share. The new forecast is above Wall Street’s estimate of $3.87.

DuPont previously forecast 2011 earnings of $3.65 to $3.85 per share.

The Danisco buyout added about 3 percentage points to DuPont’s second-quarter sales and should add 5 cents to 2011 earnings per share, DuPont said.

Currency conversion boosted the quarter’s earnings per share by 7 cents. Currency should boost results for the rest of the year, the company said.

Sales of DuPont’s genetically modified seeds and herbicides in the agricultural unit rose 10 percent to $2.99 billion. The unit also brought in the largest slice of DuPont’s operating income, roughly $826 million.

Sales in the performance chemicals unit, which sells titanium dioxide paint to carmakers, rose 27 percent.

Ticonderoga Securities chemical industry analyst Mark Gulley estimated that titanium dioxide sales approached $1 billion in the second quarter. “We think there’s more to go,” he said. “We think the titanium dioxide story is still misunderstood.”

Ford Motor is one of DuPont’s biggest customers.

Delaware-based DuPont also said customers gobbled up its Kevlar bulletproof material and other safety and protection products, pushing sales in that unit up 21 percent.

Sales rose 11 percent at the performance materials unit, which makes plastics for automakers to cut down on the amount of metal they use.