Management Report
9.2 CropScience
Research and development
In the first half of 2011 we invested €344 million in research and development at CropScience, including €178 million in the second quarter.
The active ingredient pipeline of Crop Protection currently comprises nine developmental projects, seven of which are at an advanced stage and two at an early stage of development. About 35 more projects are in the research phase.
In addition, we expect to launch 18 new products of our BioScience business group in the period 2010 through 2016.
We achieved significant progress with our innovation and growth projects in the first half of 2011.
At the start of the current season, we launched cotton seed with our proprietary glyphosate tolerance trait on the U.S. market.
The spring of 2011 also saw the successful market introduction of new crop protection products. For example, we launched the Xpro™ family of fungicides – effective against a broad spectrum of fungal diseases in cereals – in Germany and the United Kingdom, two of Europe’s major wheat-growing countries. Our new seed treatment Poncho™/Votivo™ was used in corn for the first time in the United States. This addition to our conventional portfolio is effective against nematodes – threadworms that live in the soil.
In April 2011, we received marketing authorization for the herbicide Alion™ from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. Alion™ controls a broad spectrum of weeds and is primarily used in perennial crops such as citrus, tree nuts, grapes, and pome and stone fruit.
Capital expenditures, acquisitions and cooperations
In April 2011, we acquired U.S.-based Hornbeck Seed Company, Inc., which supplies soybean, rice and wheat varieties and has an in-house soybean breeding program.
Also in April 2011, we signed a global license agreement with the U.S. company DuPont concerning a herbicide tolerance trait for canola.
In June 2011, we signed a license and cooperation agreement with RAGT Semences S.A.S., France, under which RAGT grants us access to winter wheat germplasm and associated molecular markers.
Emerging markets
In the emerging markets, CropScience grew sales by 11.5% (Fx adj.) in the first half of 2011 to €1,459 million, including second-quarter sales of €778 million (Fx adj. +7.4%). We registered the strongest growth in Eastern Europe, especially Russia and Ukraine. This was attributable to favorable weather conditions that mainly benefited product sales for sugar beet and corn. Our business also continued to expand in Latin America, particularly in Brazil and Argentina. Sales growth in Asia was driven by India, while business declined in China due to the drought. The emerging markets’ share of total CropScience sales in the first half and the second quarter of 2011 was 34.7% and 40.0%, respectively.