Bayer inaugurates Rs 200-crore Ethiprole manufacturing unit in Vapi

MUMBAI: German agrochemicals major Bayer on Thursday said it has inaugurated a new Ethiprole manufacturing plant at its Vapi site in Gujarat, with an investment of Rs 200 crore (24 million euros). The new facility will cater to domestic demand as well as exports across the Asia Pacific and Latin America, it added.
"The agriculture sector is currently the largest end-user of Ethiprole, which is emerging as one of the best insecticides for a variety of crops. With our new insecticide plant, we will fulfil domestic needs for Indian agriculture and also export to global agricultural markets.

"India is one of our key growth markets in Crop Science and with this strategic investment, we aim to further enhance our global competitiveness in agrochemical manufacturing and supply chain," Bayer Vapi director Narendra Shah said in a statement.

Ethiprole is an active ingredient used in insecticides for crop protection products.

The plant is set up with an investment of 24 million euros (Rs 200 crore) with an annual production capacity of 1,500 tonnes, Shah added.

Inaugurated in 1994, the Vapi site employs 1,200 full-time employees and is Bayer's largest global synthetic pyrethroids production facility, with nearly 80 per cent of the production exported to the US, Brazil, France, Germany, Indonesia, Japan and Australia.

Spread over 85 acres, the Vapi site manufactures 11 active ingredients and 11 intermediates for use in crop protection, animal health and home and garden applications.

"The new plant at Vapi will expand our global production volumes for Ethiprole and enable us to introduce innovative products to help growers secure their yields and grow healthier high-quality crops," said Udo Schneider, Head of AI Manufacturing Product Supply, Crop Science, Bayer AG.

Ethiprole-based insecticides have been in use since 1994, and in 2010, Bayer expanded its portfolio of Ethiprole insecticides to include broadacre crops such as sugarcane, soybean, corn and cotton.

In rice, they are used extensively for control of three major insect pests - hoppers, weevils and stinkbugs.

Ethiprole can not only eliminate insect pests from standing food crops in the field, it can also extend the shelf life of crops such as peanuts, citrus fruits, wheat and corn during storage.