Kureha to Double Capacity for Fungicide Metconazole

Kureha Corp. revealed a plan to enlist, possibly in 2012, an additional contract manufacturer in India for metconazole, its systemic triazole fungicide. The move, along with the recent completion of a capacity expansion by its existing contract manufacturer in India, would result in a doubling in its supply capacity form the present level and a network of three production bases, one in Japan and two in India.

The Tokyo-based company said that its sales of metconazole, which it supplies to BASF SE, and other overseas manufacturers as an active ingredient to formulate their pesticides, have been rising since the fungicide’s debut on the US market in 2009, spurring it to take action to strengthen its supply capability to support future growth.

Kureha projects that its agrochemical business’s annual sales will jump to 10bn yen($107mn) in 2013, from about 6 bn yen in 2009, bolstered by a surge in its metconazole sales, particularly for bioethanol-motivated corn cultivation in the US, the world’s largest corn producer. In addiction, steady growth is anticipated in the European market, where the product was first commercialized, and pesticide registration in Canada for rapeseed cultivation is expected shortly.

Sales in South America of the fungicide for soybean cultivation have been satisfactory following a 2008 market launch there, but the company noted that its growth strategy would center on the more profitable US and European markets.

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