Monsanto to realign strategy against makers of generic glyphosate

Monsanto officials said 900 planned companywide layoffs wont include southeastern Idaho workers at the St. Louis-based companys Soda Springs phosphorous operation.
The mine employs 770 workers, about half directly and half through contractors. The company uses phosphate from Soda Springs to make elemental phosphorous, a key ingredient in Roundup and other glyphosate-based herbicides.

The reason for the layoffs is an 11 percent loss of net sales for the third quarter of fiscal 2009, compared with a year earlier. The losses reflect decreased revenue from the companys Roundup and other glyphosate-based agricultural herbicides globally.

Randy Vranes, mine development manager at Soda Springs, said the losses are due to competition from other glyphosate-based herbicide manufacturers.

By the end of 2009, competitors had cut the cost of their glyphosate-based herbicides by half. Today its half that again, he said.

"What that means is Roundup is valued compared to generic," he added.

"Monsanto elected to keep the price high," not wanting to anger growers who had purchased it earlier at the higher price," Vranes said.

Now, the company has decided to realign its strategy and go head-to-head with the competition.

"Youll see lower prices. Itll get closer to that generic price," he said. "The company plans to run at high capacity to keep the price low."

Monsanto is creating a separate division for its Roundup and other herbicides business, designed to help the company stabilize the business, officials said.

This week, The Associated Press reported that Trent Clark, a Monsanto spokesman at Soda Springs, said a small number of local jobs may be lost through attrition, but company officials dont expect any layoffs in Idaho.