The agrochemical group Syngenta has achieved significantly higher revenue and profit in the first half of the year. The cold in Europe and the persistent drought in the United States boosted demand for chemical crop protection products.
The agrochemical group increased its revenue in the first six months of this year by almost a quarter, reaching a total of 14.4 billion dollars.
Syngenta says that all divisions of the group experienced double-digit growth. The Chinese subsidiary Syngenta Group China alone increased revenue by nearly half to 4.2 billion. But the largest business area, Syngenta Crop Protection, also grew by one fifth to 6.8 billion dollars.
Compared to the first quarter, Syngenta has accelerated its pace again from 20 to 28 percent. The result in the first half of the year reflects the strong interest from farmers in sustainable products and services, according to the press release. The business with biological control agents grew by 27 percent.
Climate change also drives demand: farmers are increasingly using products to cope with the effects of ongoing drought in North and Latin America, the prolonged cold spell in Europe, and global flooding.
The coronavirus pandemic also proved to be a growth engine for Syngenta: during the Covid-19 outbreak, many farmers increased their stocks of feed and supplies from fear of supply and transport problems.
In addition to the Swiss crop protection and seed company, the Syngenta Group also includes the Israeli Adama and the agricultural businesses of the China-based Sinochem.
Syngenta was formerly a Swiss-listed company that was acquired in 2017 for 43 billion dollars by ChemChina, which plans to go public this year. The Chinese securities regulator recently gave the green light for a stock market listing in Shanghai.