Agri firm sees better sales this yr

Syngenta Philippines Inc., the second largest crop protection company in the Philippines, expects a turnaround performance in 2006 after poor weather and higher production costs resulted in tepid sales last year.

"We’re definitely gunning for a bigger market share this year. Indicators point to more favorable weather this year, along with increased economic activities which we expect to redound to increased farm production," said Syngenta president Edgar Juan Surtida.

In 2005, the crop protection market struggled as the dry spell in the summer months and the subsequent flooding of critical crop-production regions forced to either postpone planting and abandon inundated farmlands with standing crops.

Syngenta, whose biggest local competitor is Bayer Philippines, suffered flat sales of about P1.1 billion in 2005.

"The biggest growth driver for crop protection companies would of course be the steadily increasing pace of food production. But last year farm production was generally depressed by the dry weather for the most part of the year. It was a tough market environment because farmers weren’t able to plant as much, and subsequently they also scrimped on farm inputs such as fertilizers and pescticides," explained Surtida.

He said Syngenta is seeing a recovery this year, with good weather favoring production efforts.

Agriculture Secretary Domingo F. Panganiban said that after a dismal 2.24 percent growth last year, the agriculture sector which accounts for a fifth of the country’s gross domestic output, expects to rebound this year with a four to 4.5 growth.

The crops subsector led by rice and corn which account for 21 percent of total agricultural production, suffered stunted growth. However, for the first semester in 2006, rice production is projected to post a 5.9 percent growth of 6.39 million metric tons (MT) from last year’s 6.03 million MT. For the whole of 2006, hybrid rice hectarage will be increased to 500,000 hectares from 400,000 hectares last year. This will translate into an additional output of 600,000 MT.

The DA chief said that the recovery in rice production will be done by intensifying planting of hybrid rice in irrigated areas. Both irrigated and rainfed farms are expected to have wider areas cultivated and higher yields in anticipation of better conditions and recovery from the drought-stricken areas last year.

Corn production is also projected to soar by 33 percent to 2.63 million MT from 1.95 million MT during the same period in 2005. The growth will come from the expansion in area to be harvested by around 14.5 percent and likely improvement in yield by 15.8 percent.

Surtida said this positive development should augur well for Syngenta which is also anticipating increased production in other high-value crops such as vegetables, mango and particularly in large plantations in Mindanao.

"We already have a strong market in Southern Mindanao such as Davao, South and North Cotabato and in Agusan del Norte and Agusan del Sur and we will intensify our marketing efforts in these growth areas," said Surtida.

He said Syngenta is keen on increasing its volume of business with existing corporate growers such as Dole Philippines, the ECJ Farms controlled by top Filipino business magnate Eduardo Cojuangco, Lapanday Farms, Marsman-Drysdale, Uni-Fruiti, Alsons Group and Sumitomo of Japan.

These companies, while already established exporters of Cavendish bananas, are also aggressively expanding mango production to supply growing markets in the Asian region, especially Japan and China.

"Syngenta is looking at tapping these new areas of mango production and we will be focusing in partnering with corporate growers and anticipating to match their highly-intensive needs," said Surtida.