Syngenta Sees Accelerating Latin America, Asia Pacific Sales
26 July 2013 
Syngenta’s first-half results were hampered by unfavorable weather and late planting in the northern hemisphere and higher seed production costs, but it expects sales growth to pick up pace for the rest of the year.
The company earned $1.4 billion for the first half of 2013, while earnings per share declined 7% to $15.92, excluding restructuring and impairment charges. Its underlying profit rose 9%
Looking ahead, Mack said that for the second half of the year it expects accelerating sales growth, fueled by Latin America and Asia Pacific. In Latin America, it expects high commodity prices to encourage more investment in soybeans. “We also see ongoing expansion of the opportunity in sugar cane and significant further potential for our corn trait portfolio,” Chief Executive Mike Mack said.
Sales increased 2% to $8.4 billion from $8.3 billion in the first half of 2012. Latin America showed the strongest growth with a 13% increase to $1.2 billion in the first half, while North American sales fell 5% to $2.6 billion due to the ending of milestone royalties for the 604 corn rootworm trait.
In Europe, Africa and the Middle East – which make up the largest share of Syngenta’s business – sales rose 5% to $3.2 billion. A strong first quarter was followed by a cold wet spring which reduced the number of crop protection applications, Syngenta said. Overall growth for the first half was driven by the CIS, France, Iberia and the emerging markets of Southeast Europe.
“China saw broad-based growth with a notable contribution from Amistar [fungicide], with a new launch on rice,” the company noted.
Mack said: “Our customers are becoming increasingly aware of the need for a broad toolbox encompassing chemistry and genetics in order to maximize yield and improve crop quality and reliability. In the emerging markets, we continue to seek out opportunities to expand the range of technologies available to growers. Africa represents a major opportunity in this respect and we have just announced the acquisition of the MRI white corn seed business in Zambia, which is a further step towards our goal of building a $1 billion business in Africa by 2022.”
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