Agricultural Chemical Manufacturing Industry Overview

Excerpt from Agricultural Chemical Manufacturing Report

Companies in this industry manufacture fertilizers, herbicides and insecticides. Major companies include Bayer and BASF (Germany), Dow and Monsanto (US), Potash (Canada), and Syngenta (Switzerland). Many smaller companies are involved in mixing purchased raw materials to produce customized fertilizer compounds with special characteristics.

Competitive Landscape

Demand for agricultural chemicals depends mainly on demand for various crops, which in turn depends on crop prices. The profitability of individual companies is linked to efficient operations and marketing. Big producers have large economies of scale in production. Smaller companies can compete effectively by making specialty chemicals or fertilizer mixtures for local markets. The US industry is highly concentrated. The eight largest producers of fertilizers generate around 70 percent of segment revenue. Likewise, the eight largest producers of pesticides generate about 75 percent of revenue for that segment.

Products, Operations & Technology

Companies manufacture fertilizers, herbicides and insecticides, or produce fertilizer or pesticide mixtures. Fertilizers account for about 65 percent of industry revenue, pesticides for about 35 percent. Fertilizers are a handful of commodity chemicals that contain nitrogen, phosphorous, or potassium. Pesticides are a broader group of chemicals, but many of the biggest sellers are also commodity products.