The six leading agrochemical majors saw a reversal of fortunes in 2009 after the strong sales growth of the previous two years. All posted revenue declines in dollar terms last year, with the exception of BASF , which recorded a slight increase. Bayer CropScience posted slight growth in euro terms but it was generally a downbeat year. Most companies saw some growth in the fourth quarter, thereby partly offsetting earlier declines. Syngenta held its place at the head of Agrow’s dollar-based ...

The six leading agrochemical majors saw a reversal of fortunes in 2009 after the strong sales growth of the previous two years. All posted revenue declines in dollar terms last year, with the exception of BASF , which recorded a slight increase. Bayer CropScience posted slight growth in euro terms but it was generally a downbeat year. Most companies saw some growth in the fourth quarter, thereby partly offsetting earlier declines. Syngenta held its place at the head of Agrow’s dollar-based ...

Indian agrochemical company Excel Crop Care (Mumbai) recorded a 28.6% rise in sales to Rs 1,377.3 million ($29.8 million at the current rate) in the three months ended December 31st 2009. This came after a 36.2% revenue drop in the second quarter of fiscal 2009-10 (Agrow No 582, p 5). Net profit for the third quarter was Rs 58.6 million ($1.3 million) compared with a loss in the corresponding quarter of the previous fiscal year. Nine-month sales dropped 15.1% to Rs 4,992 million, whereas net ...

BASF Plant Science has broadened its licence to use French biotechnology company Cellectis’ (Paris) proprietary meganuclease technology. The agreement extends the licence signed by Cellectis and BASF in January 2006. That came about after BASF’s evaluation of the technology for three years following a 2003 deal (Agrow No 425, p 7). Under the non-exclusive licence, BASF will use meganucleases engineered by Cellectis to make targeted modifications of plant genomes. Financial terms and conditions ...

Nufarm ’s shareholders have approved Sumitomo Chemical ’s bid to acquire a 20% stake in the business at Aus$14 (US$12.60 at the current rate) per share. The vote was taken at an extraordinary general meeting (EGM) on March 2nd. Sumitomo’s board of directors approved the deal in late January (Agrow No 585, p 2) after Nufarm rejected an acquisition bid by Sinochem in December (Agrow No 583, p 2). Nufarm’s management recommended shareholders to approve the move because the relationship with ...

A US court has ordered the Indian company, Gharda Chemicals, and its US subsidiary to pay some $8.4 million in damages following a 2004 fire at the premises of US pesticide company Control Solutions (Houston, Texas). A jury at the Harris County District Court found that Gharda supplied defective chlorpyrifos technical insecticide, which caused the blaze. Investigations carried out after the fire showed that the chlorpyrifos was contaminated with a flammable solvent, according to evidence ...

UK-based generic agrochemical trading company, AgChemAccess, has taken Dutch generic company Realchemie (Eindhoven) to court over non-payment for the purchase of the herbicide, metazachlor. Realchemie maintains that one of the products supplied infringes a third-party patent and wanted AgChemAccess to take it back. The transaction took place in the third quarter of 2008. Realchemie approached AgChemAccess wanting to purchase BASF’s Butisan brand under a parallel trade transaction. Unable to ...

Belgian agrochemical company Agriphar (Ougree) has agreed to acquire Greek company Geopharm (Athens). Geopharm is a leading pesticide distributor in Greece, Agriphar says. It has a formulation facility, several repacking lines and warehouses across the country. Geopharm will maintain its management team. Agriphar chief executive officer Dirk Barrie and managing director Georges Neumann welcome the deal. “This acquisition fits with Agriphar’s strategic plan to focus on growth potentials ...

United Phosphorus’ seed business, Advanta India, has acquired the US sorghum seed company, Crosbyton Seed (Crosbyton,Texas). The purchase was made through Advanta’s US subsidiary, Advanta US (Hereford, Texas), for an undisclosed amount. Advanta purchased US sorghum seed company Garrison and Townsend in 2008 (Agrow No 541, p 1).

Monsanto has marked the completion of a $200 million expansion to its US Roundup (glyphosate) herbicide manufacturing plant in Luling, Louisiana. The near two-year project began in April 2008 (Agrow No 541, p 1). The process improvements were aimed at increasing production capacity by 20% and reducing emissions. All of the Roundup sold in the US is produced at Luling or at Monsanto’s plant in Muscatine, Iowa, the company points out.

Dow AgroSciences is investing more than $340 million in the expansion of its US global headquarters in Indianapolis, Indiana. It plans to construct a 175,000 sq ft (16,260 m 2 ) research and development building and a 14,000 sq ft greenhouse at the site. The expansion will involve the creation of over 550 scientific and commercial jobs over the next five years, the company points out. Last year, it leased an 80,000 sq ft building on a nearby campus to provide research space for some 100 ...