Agrochemical multinationals sales slip in Q3

Another 3 months passed by, here we present you the sales results of world’s TOP Agrochemical multinationals for Q3. As the figures show, none of these companies achieved sales growth comparing with the corresponding period last year. Dow AgroSciences suffered the biggest decline of 20% and Syngenta took the 2nd place with its decline of 14.2%. The situation wasn’t that bad for Bayer CropScience, still its sales upon crop protection passed through a fall of 8.8%. For DuPont’s agriculture product, as it described, the sales only had a “modestly” decrease of 4.5%. Though BSAF’s agricultural solutions didn’t make another sales growth this quarter, its decline was the slightest, by 2.0% only.

Agrochemical multinationals’ Q3 sales results (ended Sept 30th)

company	2009 ($ million)	2008 ($ million)	% change
Syngenta	1,609	1,875	-14.2
Dow AgroSciences	796	995	-20.0
Bayer CropScience	1,677	1,836	-8.7
Bayer CropScience’s crop protection	1,413	1,570	-8.8
BSAF’s agricultural solutions	916	936	-2.0
DuPont’s agriculture product	1,244	1,303	-4.5

Basically by two aspects that the company analysis the sales, category and region, for details please check the 2 figures they provided, if available.

Syngenta

Syngenta suffered a 14.2% decline in crop protection revenues to $1,609 million in the third quarter compared with the corresponding period of 2008.

Syngentas 3rd-quarter agchem sales by category ($ million)
Category	2008	% change	2009
Herbicides	746	-27.3	542
- selective	384	-29.2	272
- non-selective	362	-25.4	270
Fungicides	454	0	454
Insecticides	310	+3.9	322
Seed Care	234	-20.5	186
Professional products	98	-6.1	92
Others	33	-60.6	13
Total	1,875	-14.2	1,609

Syngentas 3rd-quarter agchem sales by region ($ million)
Region	2008	% change	2009
Europe, Africa & Middle East	563	-28.6	402
NAFTA	505	-20.0	404
Latin America	515	0	515
Asia Pacific	292	-1.4	288
Total	1,875	-14.2	1,609

Dow AgroSciences

Sales of Dow Chemical’s health and agricultural sciences business fell by 20% to $796 million in the third quarter of 2009. Volumes were down by 9% and prices by 11%.

Segment sales for the first nine months of the year were down by 6% to $3,461 million. Prices were 5% lower and volumes were down by 1% over the same period last year. Earnings dropped by 37% to $508 million.

Dow’s chairman and CEO Andrew Liveris sees the downturn in the business as “short-term challenges”, and believes that the “long-term fundamentals of the agricultural sector remain firmly intact”.

Bayer CropScience

Bayer CropScience suffered a weak third quarter as crop protection revenues dropped by 8.8% to €973 million ($1,431 million at the current rate). Only fungicides bucked the trend, all other segments fell. “The business saw higher-than-expected inventory levels and prices fell by 1% in the quarter,” Bayer group chairman Werner Wenning says.

Profit margins were hit. The EBITDA margin for the quarter fell from 18.5% last year to 12.1%.

Bayer’s crop protection sales by category (€ million)
3rd qtr ended Sept 30th	2008 ($ million)	% change	2009 ($ million
Herbicides	307 (452)	-8.1	282 (415)
Insecticides	311 (457)	-10.3	279 (410)
Fungicides	210 (309)	+7.1	225 (331)
Seed treatments	239 (352)	-21.8	187 (275)
Total	1,067 (1,570)	-8.8	973 (1,431)

Bayer’s crop protection sales by region (€ million)
3rd qtr ended Sept 30th	2008 ($ million)	% change	2009 ($ million)
Europe	371 (546)	-18.1	304 (447)
Latin America/ Africa/Middle East	346 (509)	+10.1	381 (560)
Asia/Pacific	203 (299)	-3.4	196 (288)
North America	147 (216)	-37.4	92 (135)

BASF

BASF’s agricultural solutions division registered a 2% sales dip to €623 million ($916 million) in the third quarter of 2009. Earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) for the quarter were down by 10.3%, while EBIT declined by 32.3%.

Sales in North America increased “slightly”. In Asia, sales increased considerably, particularly in China and India.

BASF says that its business made a successful start to the season in South America, where demand was boosted by relatively high prices for soybeans.

DuPont

Third-quarter sales of DuPont’s agriculture and nutrition business fell by 4.5% to $1,244 million. Volumes were down by about 4% and prices by about 1%.

DuPont’s crop protection sales decreased “modestly” in the third quarter of 2009，while earnings from DuPont’s crop protection business dropped “substantially”.

There were improved global sales of the insecticide, Rynaxypyr (chlorantraniliprole), and higher prices and volumes for fungicides, notably picoxystrobin.

Sales of Rynaxypyr amounted to some $140 million in the first nine months of the year and will “easily surpass” the $150 million sales target for 2009, says DuPont’s chief executive officer, Ellen Kullman.

Summary

None of the above Agrochemical multinationals managed to make a sales growth this quarter. Some pointed out “unfavorable currency effects” and “a combination of weather factors and credit constraints” as the main reasons.

Despite of the unfavorable sales result, some still forecast a bright future of the business, for example, Dow’s chairman and CEO Andrew Liveris sees the downturn in the business as “short-term challenges”, and believes that the “long-term fundamentals of the agricultural sector remain firmly intact”.