Crop Protection
Interviews with Ancom Nylex Berhad (ANB) and with Salim Agrochemical
Lee Cheun Wei, MD / Group CEO, Ancom Nylex Berhad (ANB)
Since taking over as CEO in 2018, ANB has gone through a transformation to consolidate the chemical business. Can you explain?
Ancom was established in Malaysia in 1969, as a producer of agrochemicals and herbicides, but became a large, diversified group, with stakes in different sectors, like education, media, and engineering. From 2018 onwards, we re-focused the business on our core strength by bringing the chemical businesses under one roof, while letting go of our non-core assets. Last year, we made an offer to buy the remaining 50% of shares of Nylex, which was a publicly listed company with 50% of shares owned by Ancom. Nylex is now integrated as a fully owned subsidiary under ANB. We are also half-way through the process of completing the acquisition of the infrastructure chemical businesses.
Could you elaborate on your product portfolio?
We currently produce six active ingredients for herbicides used in sugarcane, cotton, palm oil, and soya bean plantations. About 50% of our revenue in agrochemicals comes from the sugarcane industry, but in Southeast Asia, we are mostly involved with the palm oil industry, whereas in the US we cater to the cotton industry. Our proprietary solutions are sold to about 40 countries.
As one of the only herbicides active ingredients (AI) producers for crop protection in Southeast Asia, how do you leverage this unique positioning in the market? Ancom is one of the only herbicides synthesizers of certain active ingredients for crop protection in the region, whereas most agrochemical players are formulators that procure the AI and mix it into different combinations to obtain the end-product. Outside of China and India, the AI market is very limited due to high entry barriers. As one of the only producers of AIs in the region, Ancom enjoys a strong competitive advantage. Also, being in Malaysia grants us further benefits as Malaysia is rather politically neutral internationally. To our customers, we are often seen as “China +1” or a solution outside of China. Many events in the past such as policy changes, unexpected plant relocation, covid pandemic etc. have made China a less reliable supplier in consistent manner. The pandemic in particular had indeed worsened the reliability of supply chains from China.
Alex Soeriyadi, Business Development Manager, Salim Agrochemical
Could you introduce Salim Agro?
Salim Agrochemical is part of the Salim Group, one of the largest diversified conglomerates in Indonesia. Within the crop protection business, the group consists of three main entities: Inti Everspring, which represents our manufacturing business and Mitra Kreasi Dharma (MKD) for our domestic business, as well as Joy Harvest, our venture in Australia. Salim Agro Chemicals is one of the most integrated crop protection companies in the country, having backward integrated to produce active ingredients, as well as doing formulations, branding, and distribution under MKD and Indotani brands.
Today, our revenues are evenly split (50:50) between the domestic and international markets, and we continue to make inroads in more countries.
The company is headquartered in Jakarta and our production plant sits in Merak.
Could you elaborate on your product portfolio?
Inti Everspring is one of only two private active ingredient producers in the country. Our active ingredient portfolio includes old-chemistry products - carbamates like BPMC, MIPC, carbofuran, propoxur, methomyl, and oxamyl – which are essential in the making of insecticides, herbicides, and fungicides. These are sold into both domestic and international markets. We also produce herbicide, insecticide, and fungicide formulations.
To keep up with the global trend we are also looking towards more environmentally, sustainable products. Recently, we have introduced our first biostimulant to the market, and we plan to add more bio-based products.
What are your main objectives moving forward?
Salim Agro will continue to differentiate itself through uncompromising product quality and unflinching manufacturing standards. In the last decade alone, we have expanded our capacity three-fold, and we hope to continue this trajectory to support a greater number of customers with our basket of active ingredients, formulations, and toll manufacturing services. Located in the heart of ASEAN gives us a competitive edge in serving the entire region and attracting like-minded partners that share a similar growth vision.