DuPont seed business gains corn, soybeans share in North America for 2011

At the Credit Suisse Chemicals & Ag Conference, DuPont confirmed its seed business, Pioneer Hi-Bred, will deliver another year of positive financial performance, including North America share gains in corn and soybeans.

Based on USDA data, Pioneer added a solid 1 point share gain in North American corn and 4 points share gain in soybean, further demonstrating the value of Pioneer® genetics and services. These results mark multiple years of share gains in both crops.

"New and loyal customers see the value of our innovative products and that is why we continue to see success,” said Paul E. Schickler, president, Pioneer Hi-Bred, a DuPont business. “Our ‘right product, right acre strategy’ is winning and we are pulling ahead of the competition.”

As the 2011 harvest begins, Pioneer is confident in product performance as well as supply, said Schickler. “While 2011 has been a challenging growing season, Pioneer runs excellent supply chain management processes and expects full availability for the 2012 planting season. This is just another example of actions to ensure the highest level of service and support for our growers,” he said.

"Based on what we are observing and hearing from farmers, we think our momentum will continue in 2012,” said Schickler. “This year, growers planted nearly 4 million acres with Optimum® AcreMax® 1 and Optimum® AcreMax® RW products which will support increased penetration next year.” In addition, the recent approval of new products, Optimum® AcreMax® and Optimum® AcreMax® Xtra, expands the company’s offerings of new insect protection solutions to benefit U.S. corn growers and continue to deliver value.

"The delivery of these new products demonstrates our commitment to bring innovation to market,” said Schickler. “We are proud to lead the industry by offering the broadest choice of integrated refuge solutions to farmers.”

Looking to the future, the company plans to leverage new research facilities and resources to expand routes to global markets. As the world’s demand continues to increase, Pioneer has responded through expansions, collaborations and through investments in local resources to work side-by-side with farmers.

Last December, DuPont announced its expectations to deliver sales at a compounded annual growth rate of 8 to 10 percent from 2010-15 and increase pre-tax operating margins in the range of 19 to 21 percent 2010 through 2015 for the Agriculture & Nutrition reporting segment, which included the seed, crop protection and nutrition and health businesses. In the aggregate, those expectations remain unchanged for these businesses. The preceding segment information does not reflect the recent Danisco acquisition either on a pro-forma or forward-looking basis. Market share growth is based on current USDA acreage estimates. Final USDA acreage assumptions for 2011 are issued in January 2012.