Q4 saw continued demand for new, innovative crop protection products; double-digit growth in China
Syngenta Group announced financial results for the fourth quarter and full year 2023.
Syngenta Group sales for full year 2023 were $32.2 billion, down $1.2 billion or 4 percent year-on-year (-1% CER). Full year EBITDA decreased 18 percent from the Group’s all-time high in 2022 (-14% CER). Sales in 2023 were impacted by continued industry-wide channel destocking in Crop Protection, with distributors and retailers actively reducing inventories previously accumulated in reaction to the supply chain disturbances of the prior years, while under pressure to lower working capital due to prolonged higher interest rates.
Fourth quarter sales were $7.9 billion, up 5 percent (+6% CER), driven by Syngenta Crop Protection and by strong growth of Syngenta Group China. This compares with a fourth quarter of 2022, when industry-wide destocking began. EBITDA for the fourth quarter grew 15% (+10% CER), exceeding the record-setting fourth quarter EBITDA of $0.9 billion in Q4 2022.
According to release issued by the company, global crop protection markets in 2023 were characterized by a strong destocking pressure, triggered by an inventory build-up in previous years and a substantial increase in interest rates. The resulting contraction in demand led to global volume and price reductions, particularly in Latin America and commoditised parts of the portfolio. These factors weighed on the comparison with 2022, when Syngenta Group achieved record sales and profits.
Syngenta Crop Protection sales in FY 2023 experienced a modest 5 percent decrease in comparison to the previous year, totalling $15.5 billion. Syngenta Group’s biological solutions grew 11 percent in sales to $0.4 billion compared to last year.
The seeds market continued to be strong and resilient in 2023 despite softer commodity prices towards the end of the year. The Seeds business grew 2 percent to $4.8 billion in 2023.
Syngenta Group China maintained its momentum. In 2023, sales of Syngenta Group China increased by 11 percent (+18% CER) to $9.6 billion, with fourth quarter sales growing as much as 19 percent (+28% CER) to $1.9 billion.
Full year sales of Syngenta Group China’s Modern Agriculture Platform (MAP) grew 26 percent to $3.9 billion as the number of MAP centers increased by 113 to a total of 741 centers.
In 2023, Syngenta Group remained focused on measures to improve operational efficiency and productivity to offset lower volumes and prices.
Sales from synergy effects amounted to $1.2 billion for the full year, with a profit contribution of almost $0.5 billion.
EBITDA margin for 2023 was 14.2 percent, 2.5 percentage points lower than in 2022.
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