OREANDA-NEWS. BASF now expects its crop protection R&D pipeline to achieve a peak sales potential of EUR 2.1 billion, an increase of EUR 400 million over the past year. The increase is driven by significant global demand for BASF's most recent blockbusters, Xemium fungicide and Kixor herbicide. BASF also plans to launch a host of new products across a wide range of crops and markets until the end of the decade.

In 2013, BASF spent EUR 469 million on research and development in the Crop Protection division as part of its commitment to investing for long-term growth and developing new active ingredients and solutions for agriculture. Supported by favorable market trends, the R&D pipeline and continued investments will contribute to the Crop Protection division reaching its previously-announced sales target of EUR 8 billion by 2020.

With additional launches of Xemium and Kixor in South America, BASF has raised the peak sales potential for these two blockbuster products. The company now expects Xemium to generate more than EUR 600 million in peak sales and Kixor more than EUR 300 million. Xemium was first launched in key European markets in 2011, where it continues to show impressive results. The new Xemium-based product in Brazil, commercialized as OrkestraTM, controls Asian soybean rust and other key diseases and, as part of the AgCelence(r) brand of products, also provides additional benefits that increase overall plant health. The selective herbicide Kixor, first introduced in the U.S. in 2010 and last year in Brazil, has become BASF's most successful herbicide launch in decades. Kixor provides highly effective control against difficult to control broadleaf weeds, including those that have become resistant to other herbicides.

BASF's recently-established global unit, Functional Crop Care, expects to launch first solutions for soil management by mid-decade in key countries, including the U.S., Brazil and China. The unit's portfolio, which was greatly expanded through the acquisition of Becker Underwood in 2012, includes products for chemical and biological crop protection, inoculants, polymers and colorants. Beyond these solutions, the company expects new innovations in the Functional Crop Care portfolio to generate incremental peak sales in excess of EUR 100 million.

New active ingredient candidates and advanced formulations from insecticide and herbicide research also show strong commercial potential, particularly those resulting from in-licensing and collaborative projects with other partners. The company will launch a new, technologically-advanced dicamba formulation, EngeniaTM herbicide, for use in dicamba/glyphosate tolerant cropping systems first in North America with South America to follow. Engenia is a highly efficient tool for controlling resistant weeds in key row crops.