Otsuka acquires another rice-cultivation herbicide from Bayer

Otsuka AgriTechno acquired Bayer CropScience’s business, including assets and commercial rights, in benzofenap, a rice-cultivation herbicide, for an unspecified sum. It will consign production and formulation to the German company’s Japanese unit until June 30, after which it will take over these functions, and intends to grow the business by collaborating with domestic pesticide makers to develop new mixed formulations.

Benzofenap is an active ingredient contained in 11 herbicide products for rice cultivation in Japan, including Bayer CropScience’s Smart 1KG Granule, and two such products in Australia. It is widely used in these two countries to control persistent weeds, achieving sales of 2 bn yen ($26 mn) in Japan in the 2011 pesticide year ended September that year.

Otsuka has been expanding its agrochemical business in Japan and overseas with active ingredients for insecticides, miticides and fungicides. It bought Bayer’s business in benfuresate, another rice-cultivation herbicide, in June 2011 (AgroNews 2011-07-15).