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BAYER - News
Bayer CropScience CEO
Prof. Dr. Friedrich Berschauer in Brazil:
Bayer CropScience intends
to further expand its market leadership position in Latin America
Sales in Latin America
rise 32 % in the first nine months of 2004
São Paulo,
Brazil - Building on a strong business in Brazil, Bayer CropScience is
aiming to further expand its position as the leader in the Latin American
crop protection market. “We have set our sights on strong growth in Latin
America driven by our comprehensive product portfolio, new product introductions
and favourable growing conditions in that region“, outlined Prof. Dr. Friedrich
Berschauer, Chairman of the Board of Management of Bayer CropScience, the
company’s growth plans in the region. Speaking at a press conference in
São Paulo, Brazil, the CEO said that Bayer CropScience was planning
to continue to grow above the market in the region.
The Monheim, Germany
based Bayer subgroup posted sales of EUR 812 million (US$ 918 million)
in Latin America in 2003. Despite considerable negative currency effects,
sales in the first nine months of 2004 rose 32 % from EUR 481 million to
EUR 637 million, as the growing season in the southern hemisphere got under
way in the third quarter. Bayer CropScience sales were bolstered by a sustained
expansion of planting areas in key crops, good agroclimatic conditions
and increased utilization of modern crop protection systems. Further impetus
came from the outbreak of Asian Rust, a severe fungal plant disease in
soybeans, which was first detected in Latin America in the 2000/2001 season
in Paraguay and has spread since to Argentina and Brazil.
Led by the successful
Folicur® range of tebuconazole-based products and good growth in its
trifloxystrobin business with Sphere® and Stratego®, Bayer CropScience
fungicide sales in Latin America jumped 69 % in the first nine months of
the year. Herbicides were up 24 % and insecticides grew by 19 % year on
year. The seed treatment business benefited from the continuing trend towards
protecting seeds early on in the planting season, which led to a plus of
35 % in this business unit.
Growth for Bayer CropScience
was particularly strong in Brazil, which accounts for more than half of
the company’s total sales in Latin America. Based on a broad crop protection
portfolio, Bayer CropScience is the market leader in the fungicides, insecticides
and seed treatment segments in Brazil. In the first nine months of 2004,
sales in the country reached EUR 406 million (US$ 498 million US$), an
increase of 55 % over the previous year in terms of euro. Brazil is now
the second largest individual market world wide for Bayer CropScience.
Over the next four to
five years, the company is planning to bring to the market around 20 new
products, mixtures and formulations in Brazil. In 2005, Bayer CropScience
plans to launch four new products: The new soybean insecticide Connect®,
Evidence® for use against insects in sugarcane and Oberon® from
the novel chemistry class of ketoenoles against insects in beans and tomatoes,
and Nativo®, a new fungicide developed to specifically fulfill Brazilian
farmers needs. Nativo® is a combination product based on the active
ingredients tebuconazole and trifloxystrobin for effective control of the
most important fungal diseases in wheat and soybeans. It is expected to
be registered for wheat in 2005 and soybeans in 2006.
Latin American markets
hold significant growth potential The Brazilian crop protection market
has been expanding at an average annual rate of 9 % in US$ terms since
1990, presenting a significant growth opportunity for the industry. Bayer
CropScience expects the market to continue to grow over the next few years,
albeit at a lower rate, to reach a volume of about EUR 5 billion by the
year 2010. The broader Latin American market has expanded 7.4 % on average
between 1990 and 2004, growing significantly stronger than the North American
market, which only expanded about 0.7 % over the same period of time.
Growth expectations for
the Brazilian agro-economy are based on the strong development of production
and export of agricultural products: Brazil today already is the largest
producer of sugarcane, coffee and orange juice and the second largest producer
of soybeans, tobacco and meat. In soybeans, production has more than tripled
from 15 million tons to 56 million tons between 1990 and 2004 (9.3 % p.a.).
A major factor in this was the expansion of exports, which have increased
by more than 12 % per year, in part also due to the strong uptake by the
People’s Republic of China, which today for about one third of all Brazil
soybean exports.
The increase in production
over the past few years in Brazil has been accompanied by a significant
expansion of the acreage of key crops. Over the past 5 years, the average
acreage of the country’s largest crops soybean, sugarcane, cotton and corn,
which constitute about 75 % of the total market, has increased by 36 %.
Bayer CropScience, a
subsidiary of Bayer AG with annual sales of about EUR 5.8 billion (2003),
is one of the world’s leading innovative crop science companies in the
areas of crop protection, non-agricultural pest control, seeds and plant
biotechnology. The company offers an outstanding range of products and
extensive service backup for modern, sustainable agriculture and for non-agricultural
applications. Bayer CropScience has a global workforce of about 19,000
and is represented in more than 120 countries, ensuring proximity to dealers
and consumers. http://www.bayercropscience.com
Forward-looking statements
This news release contains
forward-looking statements based on current assumptions and forecasts made
by the management of Bayer CropScience AG. Various known and unknown risks,
uncertainties and other factors could lead to material differences between
the actual future consolidated results, financial situation, development
or performance of Bayer CropScience AG or our parent company, Bayer AG,
and the estimates given here. These factors include those discussed in
Bayer AG’s public reports filed with the Frankfurt Stock Exchange and with
the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (including Bayer AG’s Form
20-F). Neither Bayer AG nor Bayer CropScience AG assumes any liability
whatsoever to update these forward-looking statements or to conform them
to future events or developments.
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