InterviewAgchems make up for weak pharma - Saltigo

12 November 2009 18:07  [Source: ICIS news]

By Clay Boswell

NEW YORK (ICIS news)--LANXESS subsidiary Saltigo has enjoyed strong agrochemical sales this year, but 2010 remains uncertain, Saltigo managing director Wolfgang Schmitz said on Thursday.

Revenues have declined in the pharmaceutical segment, Schmitz said. Saltigo is a Germany-based fine chemical company.

“Here we are in the same swing as the rest of the industry,” he said, noting that other major manufacturers of active pharmaceutical ingredients have also reported disappointing results.

Schmitz said that emerging pharmaceutical companies had been concentrating on fewer projects to conserve capital, which has been more difficult to obtain this year. Large pharmaceutical companies had been destocking, as well. 

However, demand seemed to be rebounding, he noted.

“Everybody is, I would say, cautiously optimistic that business should be better in 2010 than in 2009, but to what extent, they don’t know yet,” Schmitz said.

The picture has been brighter in agrochemicals.

“There is strong demand, and we have developed our business quite nicely,” he said.

Saltigo does not publicly report its revenues, but Schmitz did say that agrochemical sales have grown “strongly”.

“The question for me is how this will continue into the next year, and here customers are still reluctant to say what they expect in 2010,” he said.

“They don’t feel informed enough to say how business will develop next year,” he added.

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By: Clay Boswell
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