Syngenta crop protection rises 22%

Syngenta’s crop protection business sold US $9.2 billion in products in 2008, according to the company’s year-end financial statements.

For the first time Fungicides were they company’s largest product line, led by AMISTAR, for which sales reached $1 billion, according to CEO Mike Mack.

“2008 was an extraordinary year for agriculture in which acreage expanded and technology adoption accelerated,” Mack said in a prepared statement. “Growers worldwide increased usage intensity for crop protection and planted higher value seeds, resulting in excellent crop yields globally.”

Going forward,the combined peak sales potential of the company’s crop protection pipeline is in excess of $2 billion, according to the company. It has several products in late development, including 520, a broad-spectrum cereal fungicide, which made significant advances during the year and is now scheduled for launch in 2010; 524, a seed treatment fungicide; and 449, a new herbicide for corn and sugar cane.

The company’s seed business was further diversified in 2008 as well. In the US, where GM penetration continued to expand, its proprietary triple stack seed AGRISURE 3000 GT was successfully launched in limited quantities. In soybean, where Syngenta already has a full traited offer, quality of germplasm plays a key differentiating role and allowed us again to gain market share. With lower US corn acres, growers outside the US responded by increasing corn plantings. This gave rise to new opportunities with a broadening of our hybrid maturity profile in Europe and the expansion of our traited offer in Latin America. In Brazil, approval of our Bt11 trait was confirmed in May, enabling us to introduce the trait for the 2008/2009 season. Approval for GA21 herbicide tolerance later in the year opens up future potential for double-stack products. Brazilian soybean sales progressed rapidly with excellent acceptance of the early maturity V-Max variety. In Argentina, the acquisition of SPS Argentina SA will complement our existing strong corn position while giving us a platform for the launch of soybean technology.