ZURICH (Reuters) – Syngenta Group increased first-quarter sales by 26% as farmers bought seeds and sprays early to avoid possible shortages later in the year, the Swiss agrochemicals company said on Thursday.
The results of the Chinese-owned group are seen as a bellwether for the broader agrochemicals industry, with peers including U.S. company Corteva and Germany’s BASF and Bayer due to report in the next two weeks.
BASF last month warned that it would have to stop production if natural gas supplies fell to less than half its needs. Gas shortages have a dual impact on chemical production, providing energy for the manufacturing and also as a critical raw material. [nL2N2VX2YT
Syngenta, which aims to raise about $10 billion from an initial public offering (IPO), said all parts of its business had benefited from farmers buying early to avoid shortages caused by supply chain bottlenecks.
The company said sales during the first three months of 2022 rose by 26% year on year to $8.9 billion, with core profit up 25% at $1.9 billion.
Increased productivity and price increases had also helped to counter higher logistics and buying costs, it added.
The company also continued to expand in China, with 149 more of its Modern Agricultural Platform (MAP) training and sales centres than a year earlier.
It now has 514 centres in total in China, where it increased overall sales by 25% to $2.4 billion.
Each MAP centre, which sell seeds, nutrition and crop protection products as well as providing training, increased sales by an average of 57% from the same period last year, Syngenta said.
(Reporting by John Revill; Editing by Miranda Murray and David Goodman)
