Otsuka AgriTechno acquires Bayer's rice-cultivation herbicide benfuresate

Date:07-15-2011


Otsuka AgriTechno set the stage on June 30 for inroads into the market of herbicides for rice cultivation by acquiring benfuresate from Bayer CropScience for an undisclosed sum, with assets and commercial rights transferred the next day.

Benfuresate is an active ingredient contained in 23 herbicide products for rice cultivation in Japan, including Bayer CropScience’s Longshot 1 Kg Granule and Kumiai Chemical Industry’s Kuminate SM 1 Kg Granule, and 10 such products in South Korea. It is widely used in these two markets to control persistent weeds, preventing their growth by blocking their fatty acid biosynthesis, and it is effective against annual Cyperus microiria, Eleocharis acicularis, Scirpus hotarui and Cyperus serotinus. Its domestic sales topped 2.3 bn yen ($28.5 mn) in the 2009 pesticide year ended in September that year.

The Tokyo-based company was formed in September 2010 through a management buyout of Otsuka Chemical’s AgriTechno Division. It is expanding its agrochemical business at home and abroad with its active ingredients for insecticides, miticides and germicides.