Top 10 Indian Agro-news in May 2021

Below are the most-viewed news regarding Indian companies, products, regulation and research that were published on AgroPages in May 2021.

Safex Chemicals acquires Mumbai-based chemical manufacturer Shogun Organics

Safex Chemicals India Limited (“Safex” or “the Company”), a leading agrochemical company in India, announces acquiring Mumbai-based Shogun Organics Limited. The acquisition will provide Safex a platform to backward integrate into the agrochemical technical segment and enter the Home Care & Agrochemical Technical Manufacturing segment. Meanwhile, the promoters of Safex, Mr. SK Chaudhary, Mr. Neeraj Jindal, Mr. Rajesh Jindal and Mr. Piyush Jindal will join the board of Shogun Organics ... ...

UPL - Q4FY21RU - Transition from post-patent to differentiated solutions

As guided by the UPL management, company’s Q4 performance improved substantially QoQ with both revenue growth as well as debt reduction leading to lower interest outgo which benefitted growth in bottom-line. Except for YoY degrowth in ROW region and flat US sales, all the other regions witnessed healthy YoY growth in revenues. ~15% YoY top-line growth for Q4 was primarily driven by volume growth of 18%, increase in prices of 1%, while negative 4% impact from forex. EBITDA margin improved 360bps YoY at 20.7% (17.1%), however was lower sequentially impacted by supply chain issues coupled with RM cost inflation ... ...

UPL announces collaboration with Meiji for exclusive access to Flupyrimin Rice in Southeast Asia

UPL Ltd., a global provider of sustainable agriculture solutions, today announced that its subsidiary has entered into a license agreement with Japanese company, Meiji Seika Pharma Co., Ltd. for exclusive access to Flupyrimin for rice in Southeast Asia. Under the license agreement, UPL will obtain exclusive rights to develop, register and commercialize formulations of Flupyrimin for foliar applications in rice in Southeast Asia, expanding the on-going collaboration between the two companies with this compound ... ...

European Union's Top Court affirms partial ban on Bayer Pesticides linked to harming bees

On last Thursday, the European Union's highest court upheld the EU's partial ban on three insecticides linked to bee damage, banning their use on some crops. Bayer's appeal to reverse a lower EU court's decision to uphold the injunction in 2018 was rejected by the European Court of Justice. The decision applies to three active ingredients: Bayer Crop Science's imidacloprid, Takeda Chemical Industries and Bayer Crop Science's clothianidin, and Syngenta's thiamethoxam ... ...

Willowood and Syngenta settle Azoxy patent matter

Willowood Ltd, a Hong Kong based company, and Syngenta Crop Protection, LLC have entered into a settlement agreement related to Syngenta’s patent infringement claims related to Azoxystrobin and the matter has been dismissed by the court ... ...

Meghmani Organics Limited accorded with Four Star Export House Status

Meghmani Organics Ltd. has been accorded the Status of "Four Star export House" by the Ministry of Commerce and Industry, Govt. of India. Recognizing the business house as “Status Holder” by the Central government Authorities is an achievement and proud moment for the organisation. Meghmani Organics have excelled in International Trade and have successfully & constantly contributed enormously to the Country’s Foreign Trade ... ...

India Tamil Nadu: 4 killed in boiler blast in Cuddalore, rescue ops underway

Four persons, including a woman, were killed in a boiler blast at a pesticide manufacturing industry at SIPCOT Industrial estate in Kudikadu village near Cuddalore. Fifteen people sustained injuries in the blast. The incident occurred at 07:45 am at Crimsun Organics chemical company. The plant was under operation with 19 regular company staff and 18 contractual labourers. “The boiler mixer machine burst, in which chemical gas emerged from the furnace of the boiler and spread nearby fire which resulted in a fire accident around the plant,” the police said ... ...

India is a key vegetable seed market for East-West Seed globally

Douwe Zijp, Global CEO of East-West Seed, a global leader in the tropical vegetable seeds market, with 39 years of experience in breeding, producing, and delivering high-quality vegetable seeds, speaks on how Indian smallholder farmers can economically benefit from adopting vegetable cultivation. East-West Seed, founded in 1982 by Dr. Simon Groot, winner of the World Food Prize 2019, focuses on developing improved vegetable varieties to help smallholder farmers increase their production and incomes ... ...

CCFI seeks revision in customs duty to 30% on formulation imports in India

The Crop Care Federation of India (CCF) has sought intervention of Union Minister for Agriculture & Farmer Welfare Narendra Singh Tomar to control the import of agrochemicals to India. In a letter to Tomar, the Federation stated that the import of agrochemicals has increased from Rs 9,096 crores to Rs 12,418 crore, reflecting a growth of 37% in 2019-2020 and 2020-21. During the same period, the exports increased from Rs 23,757 crore to Rs 26, 513 crores, reflecting a growth of 12%.“Imports are growing much faster than exports, draining out valuable foreign exchange. Surge in imports for non-essential agrochemicals mainly by traders for resale and by MNCs ( Rs 6500cr ) as readymade formulations is increasing over the years with and needs to be stopped,” Harish Mehta, Senior Advisor, CCFI, wrote in the letter to the Minister ... ...

Willowood makes donation of Oxygen concentrators

India has been grappling with the second wave of Covid 19 amidst surge in demand for medical oxygen. Willowood is committed to India’s fight against the deadly pandemic through its various Corporate Social Responsibility initiatives. To ease the oxygen crisis, Willowood Group has donated 50 Oxygen Concentrators to government hospitals in Savli & Vadodara (Gujarat) on 17th May 2021 in presence of honourable MLA Mr. Ketan Inamdar and Dr Vinod Rao (OSD Covid Cell). In these tough times, Willowood stands in solidarity with the society to emerge victorious for a brighter tomorrow ... ...