Observation of agrochemical companies worldwide during COVID-19 outbreak

 

The US has become the most seriously epidemic-affected country in the world. Also as a result of the oil price fall, all US chemical industry sectors are have been affected. The US-headquartered company FMC has taken a series of actions to ensure the health and wellness of employees, including the alternative work arrangements, travel restrictions, and other measures around the world. The company has formulated a business continuation plan, its commercial teams are focused on supporting customers and ensuring farmers have the products they need. The company has so far sufficient product stock to meet anticipated customer needs for the immediate future.  FMC’s sales and technical service teams continue to operate fully.

 

Farmers Business Network (FBNsm) is a US data and pesticide e-business company. Recently, the company has announced a discount sale of more than 80 kinds of key seeds and pesticides at a special rate, with 15% discount on top of the current low prices, which will help farmers cope with the financial stress in this difficult period, which happens to be a planting season. The online selling mode will play a more complementary role in facilitation of the offline sales channels under the epidemic circumstance. FBN says that its products can be ordered by phone or online, and can be delivered from more than 70 FBN warehouses in the United States. 

Many European countries have been seriously hit by the pandemic, with Italy and Spain completely suspending their economic activities and Germany making every effort to defend itself. We contacted BASF Agricultural Solutions in Limburgerhof to ask about the measures taken and the business situation there. The company said that currently, employees who can work from home are doing so in consultation with their superiors. For the employees who still need to work from the office of the company, BASF has taken the necessary measures and provided help in terms of commuting, dining, and daily business activities. The company has set up crisis teams in all regions to coordinate various measures. Furthermore, the global crisis team meets in Ludwigshafen, Germany, on a daily basis, and is in close contact with the regional crisis teams. The teams evaluate current information from external and internal experts and decide on a daily basis which measures are appropriate for BASF at the respective sites and globally.

 

The market demand for BASF healthcare is very strong at the moment. However, some of their customer industries are particularly affected by the pandemic, such as the automotive industry. There is still uncertainty over the impact on the agricultural business and the changes that may occur during the coming period.

 

A Belgium company, Certis Europe, which relies on the supply of active ingredients from Japan and China, told us that at present, the pandemic has forced employees to change their way of working. Under the special circumstances, the company is trying to support, as far as possible, its customers and farmers while placing orders and some "panic-buying" has been observed. However, so far, the supplies from stocks are still sufficient. The pandemic has not had a significant impact on the company's business yet, and will depend on how the situation develops in the next 1-2 months.  

 

Another European company said that it is mainly engaged in import and export trade, and business has obviously been affected by the pandemic, although some businesses are still operational. Besides the health of the employees, the biggest challenge lies in the rising operating cost and the declining revenue. As a normal trading company, it will not maintain a large amount of stock; the running of the business relies on the trading turnover to maintain the cash flow. Meanwhile, the lockdown will inevitably lead to an increase in logistical costs later. It is foreseen that financial stress will be a big issue for the company this year.

 

 

Although the pandemic in the Eastern European countries is not as serious as the other part of Europe, Russia's outbreak prevention and control still faces challenges. On March 30, Russia began closing all its borders. A Russian agricultural product company told us that the factory capacity is currently running at full load, but for the sake of safety, the office staff is working from home. Russia's main crop is wheat, which is now between sowing and harvesting. If the pandemic spreads to Russia, it may pose a threat to wheat production. Furthermore, Russia is facing an increase in the planting cost, resulting from the depreciating currency. 

 

In Poland, “the outbreak has just begun”, said health minister, Lukasz Szumowski, at a press conference on March 30. As there is an outbreak precedent due to poor prevention and control in European countries, so far, the Polish government has taken relatively stricter control measures. A local distributor in Poland said that its employees are all working from home. Their business model is to sell products directly to farmers or retailers, and the issue right now is delivering the products on time, supplying active ingredients and supplying the products. It is predicted that the business volume this year will decline as a result of the coronavirus outbreak.