On Feb. 11, Bayer’s Global Head of Active Ingredient Manufacturing, Udo Schneider, sent a letter sharing that Bayer expects delays in glyphosate shipments due to a mechanical failure in a manufacturing plant that produces a key raw material for the chemical.
As a result, Bayer’s ability to supply customers with glyphosate or glyphosate-containing products will likely be impacted.
“The crop chemistry market worldwide is experiencing historically tight supply due to challenging global trade flows, effects of the global pandemic and other forces which have continued to put pressure on already tight supplies. Throughout these situations, Bayer has been working with our customers to help manage supplies and best meet their needs around the world,” Bayer said in a statement.
“Recently a supplier of a raw ingredient needed to produce glyphosate suffered a mechanical failure which may have some short-term impacts on our production of the active ingredient to manufacture glyphosate,” the company continued. “Our supplier is on track to restore production; we’ve sourced additional materials and made other mitigation efforts to help best manage this situation. We expect any impact to be marginal in terms of our annual glyphosate production.
“The Roundup branded ag herbicide business supply will continue to be balanced through the current ongoing supply management efforts. With the world’s leading crop protection portfolio of products, we will continue to work diligently with our customers to address their needs and help them have a successful season.”
Bayer adds they’ve continued to see great demand for Roundup Ready 2 Xtend Soybeans and XtendFlex soybeans, that show tolerance to glyphosate, dicamba and (for XtendFlex) glufosinate herbicides.
