Bayer CropScience To Reduce Temik Production

Posted by Matt Hopkins|18 January 2011

Woodbine, GA, United States — Bayer CropScience is closing certain manufacturing facilities dedicated to carbamate chemistries in Institute, West Virginia, and is shutting down its Woodbine, Georgia, formulation facility, according to the company.

“Temik has been the cornerstone of our carbamate manufacturing strategy,” said Chris Evans, senior vice president of industrial operations in North America for Bayer CropScience in a prepared statement. “The decisions to exit Temik and to discontinue our Methomyl and Carbofuran production, made it impossible to maintain competitive operations at parts of our Institute site and at the formulation unit at Woodbine.”

In recent years, the carbamate family has been largely substituted by newer products, prompting a review of the company’s carbamates business strategy. Following the August 2010 agreement with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to phase out Temik brand insecticide/nematicide, the production of certain carbamates is no longer economically viable for Bayer CropScience, according to the company.

Products affected by this decision include Aldicarb (the active ingredient in Temik brand insecticide/nematicide) and Carbaryl (the active ingredient in Sevin brand insecticide), as well as certain intermediate materials associated with their production.

The respective production operations, including methyl isocyanate (MIC), will be phased out over the next 18 months. Bayer CropScience plans to continue supplying its customers with Temik in the US and other markets worldwide until the end of 2014, after which sales of the compound will be ceased. The company intends to continue marketing Sevin based on active ingredient supplies from alternate sources, according to the press release.