CHANGES IN weather and eating habits, sluggish growth and ecological concerns are dogging the traditional insecticide, herbicide and fungicide sectors. As agricultural chemical markets are becoming increasingly volatile, weak results by industry majors in the first half of 2006 are showing themselves.
The industry is starting to experience similar problems to those affecting pharmaceuticals. Due to generic substitution, demand for branded crop-protection ingredients, for example, is set to fall by 0.6%/year over the next decade.
As there are no signs of a fundamental revival, agrochemical producers must diversify their portfolios and mobilise biotech resources to play in the genetics league.
FLEXING MUSCLE POWER
Few players have more muscle to tackle the market's challenges than Bayer CropScience.
