DuPont agriculture segment sales up 13% in 2013

Sales of DuPont’s agriculture segment, including crop protection and seed business, increased by 17.7% to $1,806 million in the fourth quarter ended Dec 31, 2013. Full year sales rose by 12.6% to $ 11,739 million y-o-y. DuPont's crop protection sales rose by 6.5% to $814 million in the fourth quarter of 2013, and annual sales increased by 12.1% to $3,557 million.

DuPont's agriculture segment sales results ($ million)
Q4 Ended Dec 31	Q4 2013	Q4 2012	Change %	Full Year 2013	Full Year   2012	Change %
Sales	1,806	1,535	+17.7	11,739	10,426	+12.6
PTOI* (loss)	88	(77)	_	2,483	2,138	+16.1
* pre-tax operating income excluding significant items

Excluding significant items, operating earnings in this quarter were $88 million compared to a seasonal operating loss of $77 million in last year's fourth quarter. The improvement was driven by strong insecticide sales in Latin America, earlier seed shipments for the Brazil safrinha corn season enabled by recent investments, and earlier direct seed shipments to North American farmers, partially offset by negative currency impact. As a result of the earlier timing of seed shipments, about $100 million of operating earnings were realized in the fourth quarter versus the first quarter 2014.  

Excluding significant items, full year PTOI rose by 16.1% to $2,483 million, which were driven by higher sales, partially offset by higher seed input costs and negative currency impact. Full year sales growth was principally driven by higher global seed prices and volumes, increased global insecticide and fungicide volumes, and the benefit of increased ownership in Pannar, a South Africa-based seed company, acquired majority ownership by DuPont.