The peak sales potential of its
development pipeline increased to €800 million,
BASF’s Agricultural Products
announced on March 14, 2007. The company promoted one promising
fungicide to its development from its discovery pipeline. BASF
is currently working on developing seven new active ingredients
and on one new herbicide tolerance project.
Seven additional crop protection
active ingredients with a peak sales potential of €1,000 million
are currently being introduced to the market. In 2006, BASF
launched the corn herbicide topramezone.
"Our development pipeline is in
good shape, with projects making fast progress toward market
introduction," says Michael Heinz, President of BASF
Agricultural Products. The clear focus in our research and
development work is paying off. In the coming years we will be
launching promising compounds with novel modes of action that
were designed for our key strategic markets and segments," he
adds.
BASF is a leading innovator of
crop protection solutions. In 2006, the division increased its
research and development expenditure by €31 million to €334
million to accelerate its promising development projects. "The
results of our research efforts are encouraging, and we are
looking forward to providing our customers with even more
innovative solutions," says Heinz.
BASF continues to focus its
research efforts on the promising fungicides and insecticides
segments, while pursuing selected opportunities in herbicides.
At the same time, the company has pressed ahead with its
dedicated research for the promising plant health and seed
treatment segments.
In 2007, BASF is planning to
launch two new technologies from its promising pipeline of
development projects: orysastrobin and metaflumizone.
Orysastrobin is an easy-to-use, broad-spectrum rice fungicide,
which was developed for the Japanese market. The insecticide
metaflumizone will be a strong addition to the company’s
portfolio, especially for urban pest control and the fruit and
vegetables segment.
While maintaining its strong
commitment to innovation, BASF Agricultural Products continues
to strictly manage costs and assets. "We are an
innovation-driven team," says Heinz, "building on a lean and
agile organization. That’s why we continue to prune our product
portfolio and optimize costs and assets." In 2006, BASF divested
major parts of the generics business Micro Flo in North America
and the global terbufos insecticide business.
With sales of €3,079 million in 2006,
BASF’s Agricultural Products
division is a leader in crop protection and a strong partner
to the farming industry providing well-established and
innovative fungicides, insecticides and herbicides. Farmers use
these products and services to improve crop yields and crop
quality. Other uses include public health, structural/urban pest
control, turf and ornamental plants, vegetation management, and
forestry. BASF aims to turn knowledge rapidly into market
success. The vision of BASF’s Agricultural Products division is
to be the world’s leading innovator, optimizing agricultural
production, improving nutrition, and thus enhancing the quality
of life for a growing world population.
BASF is the
world’s leading chemical company: The Chemical Company. Its
portfolio ranges from chemicals, plastics, performance products,
agricultural products and fine chemicals to crude oil and
natural gas. As a reliable partner to virtually all industries,
BASF’s high-value products and intelligent system solutions help
its customers to be more successful. BASF develops new
technologies and uses them to meet the challenges of the future
and open up additional market opportunities. It combines
economic success with environmental protection and social
responsibility, thus contributing to a better future. BASF has
over 95,000 employees and posted sales of €52.6 billion
(approximately $66.1 billion) in 2006.
