Ag News, Wednesday October 19, 2016

BASF Chemical Plant Faces Prolonged Shutdown Following Explosion

An explosion at the world’s largest chemical facility has killed two firefighters and shut down production. The explosion at BASF’s Germany plant near Frankfurt shut down the four-square-mile complex Monday that makes raw chemicals for BASF products. BASF is the world’s largest chemical company and says the facility is likely to face a prolonged shutdown. The complex is home to some 39,000 BASF employees. An extended shutdown may tighten earnings for BASF and benefit Dow Chemical, according to Bloomberg. There’s no word yet on how the shutdown might impact the production of BASF’s agriculture chemicals. BASF never joined the merger and acquisition trend within the agriculture chemical industry but did reportedly enter talks with Monsanto to sell-off BASF’s agriculture-solutions unit. However, that was before Bayer and Monsanto agreed on a merger worth $66 billion.

India Seeks to Triple Egg Production to Combat Malnutrition

India’s agriculture minister says the nation is aiming to triple egg production to combat the challenge of malnutrition. The Poultry Site reports India is already among the top egg producers of the world, with total egg production close to 83 billion, but the domestic requirement is much higher. Agriculture officials in India say the per capita availability of eggs is only 63 per year, while the National Nutrition Institute prescribes for a minimum of 180. To triple production, India’s government is taking steps to promote poultry farming. The agriculture ministry says one in every four children up to five-years old is suffering from malnutrition and that “eggs can help a lot in combating the malnutrition.”

Source;  NAFB News