BASF to invest more than EUR150 million in additional capacity for key crop protection products
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BASF Crop Protection plans to invest more than EUR150 million in additional capacity to meet the growing demand for key crop protection products in the coming years. The two-year expansion project will increase capacity at production facilities in Germany, France, Brazil and the United States for top-selling active ingredients such as F 500®, boscalid, fipronil and metazachlor. This sum is on top of the base investment of around EUR90 million for 2008, which includes production capacity expenditures for BASF's new blockbuster herbicide KixorTM.
"Farmers are seeking to capitalize on the high prices for agricultural commodities," said Michael Heinz, President of BASF's Crop Protection division. "That means getting the most out of every hectare of farmland with innovative crop protection products."
The majority of this new capacity will become available in 2010 at the latest. The products with these active ingredients have demonstrated outstanding performance in the field. Included are two pipeline compounds: F 500® and boscalid. The fungicide F 500® is BASF's star plant health fungicide, bringing growers additional yield benefits of around 10% in crops such as corn and soybeans in addition to the excellent disease control in over 100 different crops. The fungicide boscalid, originally developed for the fast-growing fruit and vegetables segment, is now being successfully launched in cereals and oil seed rape. The combined peak sales potential of these two pipeline active ingredients is more than EUR700 million. The insecticide fipronil and the herbicide metazachlor are two mainstays in BASF's crop protection portfolio and will continue to be featured in the company's next-generation products.
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