Monsanto repositioning its Roundup business
Farm and Ranch June 7, 2010 Monsanto CEO Hugh Grant recently announced the company is repositioning its Roundup herbicide business due to increasing competition from generics. Grant: “We have made the sole focus of Roundup supporting our Roundup Ready traits. In doing so we have minimized volatility and we have given our farmer customers more affordable weed control solutions.” Starting in 2011 Monsanto will price Roundup nearer to the levels of generics, which currently are selling for around $10 a gallon and move to a single brand strategy. Grant also said the company would create a new product offering that would combine Roundup with complementary chemicals to address glyphosate resistant weeds. Grant: “It is an issue in cotton. It is an emerging issue in soybeans. So far it hasn‘t appeared in corn. So we need to get in front of this. The key in the Roundup move we made today is introducing some flexibility on affordability.” Grant said China is flooding the market with generic glyphosate and current production capacity represents twice the world’s current glyphosate demand. The Monsanto CEO said by reducing the uncertainty associated with Roundup, Monsanto is free to grow on its fundamentals. He said what matters to the company’s long term growth is the seeds and traits business, which is on track. I’m Bob Hoff and that’s the Northwest Farm and Ranch Report on Northwest Aginfo Net.
