DuPont Co. (NYSE:DD) is cobbling together a mighty effort to stabilize its share of the corn seed market in the U.S. and North America. The Wilmington company is the world's largest corn seed producer, but its pesky rival, Monsanto Co., keeps snatching business, Bloomberg News reported. The St. Louis company gobbled as much as 5 percent of U.S. corn seed sales this year at the expense of its competitors.
Speaking in a husky voice during a DuPont internet presentation today (actually, we don't know if his voice was husky, but we couldn't resist the pun. sorry), Erik Fyrwald, agriculture group vice president for DuPont, vowed to turn the situation around, by, at a minimum, holding share flat in 2008 in North Ameria and growing it elsewhere. DuPont predicted that seed sales will rise 15 percent this year, driving profit 10 percent higher in its agricultural unit.
It looks like DuPont is putting more than seed money into the battle. It plans to spend $100 million, some earmarked for 150 new sales and marketing employees in its Pioneer Seed unit. The rest will go to increasing production of its most desirable seeds.
The company also confirmed its earlier forecast of $3.15 a share for 2007 earnings, less than the $3.17 predicted by analysts surveyed by Bloomberg. Net income for 2006 was $3.38 a share.
