Bayer builds herbicide intermediate plant for 2009

Bayer CropScience is building a production plant for the glufosinate-ammonium herbicide intermediate, methane phosphonous acid n-butyl ester (MPE). The facility at the Knapsack site near Cologne, Germany, is expected to start production of MPE in early 2009. Bayer is investing Euro 60 million ($89 million) in the plant. "This Euro 60 million investment in our most successful herbicide active substance will allow us to exploit the growth potential of this important market segment over the long term," chairman of the board of management Professor Friedrich Berschauer says. Bayers glufosinate-ammonium products, Basta and Liberty, recorded sales of Euro 28 million in the third quarter of 2007 and were up by 8% for the first nine months of the year.