BASF Crop Protection pipeline value jumps to €2.8 billion

The value of the BASF Crop Protection pipeline has increased by €400 million to €2.8 billion. Growth was mainly driven by the company’s star fungicide F 500®, which is expected to exceed peak sales of €1 billion. First sales of the company’s new blockbuster fungicide Xemium® were registered at the end of 2011 after receiving registration in key European cereal markets in record time. Xemium is on track to achieve estimated peak sales of more than €200 million. In addition, several projects from early research were promoted to development status, including first solutions from the newly established unit for crop resource and stress management, Functional Crop Care. All of these innovations are scheduled for launch by 2020.

"BASF has continuously delivered a strong pipeline of innovation. In four years, we have grown its value from €1.8 billion to €2.8 billion,” says Markus Heldt, President of BASF’s Crop Protection division. “Moreover, in 2011, BASF realized a major part of the €1.6 billion peak sales potential from active ingredients launched since 2002. This shows our strong ability to successfully commercialize our products”, adds Heldt. In 2011, the company invested 9-10% of its Crop Protection sales in research and development. Total peak sales potential for innovations launched within the current decade account for €1.2 billion.



A number of highlights follow:

Xemium®

Xemium, BASF’s next generation carboxamide fungicide, is expected to generate peak sales potential in excess of €200 million. The compound will strengthen the company’s leadership position in the carboxamide fungicide market. As a pioneer in this product class, BASF has developed Xemium for major field and specialty crops across more than 50 countries. With its broad spectrum of controlled pathogens and outstanding distribution within the plant, Xemium will also be used as a seed treatment. Xemium has been
submitted for registration worldwide and will soon be benefiting growers in other markets in the Americas and Asia.

Kixor®

Already launched in North America and many markets in Latin America, Kixor is BASF’s blockbuster herbicide. Highly effective against difficult to control broadleaf weeds, Kixor offers fast burndown for clean fields and higher yields in more than 30 crops, including major commodity crops. Kixor’s successful launch is a result of its outstanding performance in combating glyphosate, ALS and triazine-resistant weeds. Kixor is scheduled to enter the Brazilian market in the near future, which will support its global peak sales potential currently estimated to be €200 million.

Herbicide Tolerant Systems: Cultivance and Dicamba

Cultivance® Production System is on track to be the first genetically modified crop developed in Brazil to reach commercialization stage. The system combines herbicide-tolerant soybean varieties with BASF’s broad spectrum imidazolinone class of herbicides. The result of a partnership between BASF and EMBRAPA, the leading Brazilian agricultural research institution, the Cultivance Production System is anticipated to be launched in Brazil in 2013.

Further development work and subsequent commercialization of a dicamba tolerant cropping system, which includes improved dicamba formulations, is the targeted result of the ongoing global collaboration between BASF and Monsanto. Once launched, the system will provide farmers with another tool to combat yield-robbing weeds, widening the range of alternatives currently present for weed management in crops such as soybean, cotton and corn. The system is expected to be initially introduced in soybeans in the United States and Canada in the middle of the decade, pending regulatory approvals.

Functional Crop Care - new strategic pillar

A recently established unit, Functional Crop Care is tasked with developing better ways to help farmers manage agricultural resources and reduce crop stress. The unit builds on BASF’s pioneering work in the area of plant health and will initially focus on developing products from three clusters: plant health, water management and nitrogen management. The innovative solutions will help growers to, for example, improve a crop’s use of nutrients and water or reduce stress such as drought or heat. BASF expects innovative solutions from this new unit to make a positive earnings contribution by 2015.

AgCelence®

With products that improve plant health, delivering benefits beyond disease control, BASF’s AgCelence portfolio continues to expand and reach more markets, including emerging ones in Asia, South Africa and Eastern Europe. AgCelence products can boost yields up to 10%, depending on the crop. The reason: better stress tolerance coupled with better growth performance and plant strength.

Innovations containing the active ingredient F 500 are the backbone of the AgCelence portfolio; BASF will continue to launch products in this highly profitable market segment and will invest in research to develop innovation that pays into the plant health franchise. The peak sales potential for F 500 is estimated to exceed €1 billion.