India Agrochemical companies cut planned production time

After the crop damage in India due to unseasonal rains in March and April this year, the forecasts of a weak monsoon is having a telling impact on the agrochemicals industry forcing companies to start scaling down their expansion plans and shortening planned production period to two months instead of the regular 3-4 months. Rajesh Aggarwal, managing director of Insecticides (India) Ltd (IIL), said the industry is keeping its finger crossed and very cautious about the demand outlook.

"Companies have reduced the planned production period to 30-60 days against the normal practice of 3-4 months factoring in the monsoon forecasts that can hit the farm sector hard if it actually pans out in the predicted lines. ILL is also watchful," said Agarwal, who was here to launch IIL Foundation, an initiative to educate farmers on the benefits of adopting green gram in crop rotation.

However he said if the rainfall is deficient by 10%, the impact may not be very significant which can result in an acute shortage of supplies. The company also introduced Prime Gold, a new plant growth regulator product for all crops.