Monsanto Announces Roundup Plant Expansion

Monsanto says it will make an investment of up to $196 million over the next 18 months at its glyphosate manufacturing facility in Luling, LA. The planned development will increase its global capacity to produce Roundup and other glyphosate-based herbicides.

"Growing global adoption of our seed products, including Roundup Ready crops, has led to increased demand for our Roundup agricultural herbicides," said Mark Leidy, executive vice president of manufacturing at Monsanto. "Today’s investment provides for new process improvements at our Luling manufacturing facility, allowing us to strengthen our manufacturing position while helping to ensure that our business is able to provide a reliable supply of the world’s leading herbicide brand, Roundup, to our customers."

Monsanto recently received authorization from the Louisiana Department of Environmental Quality (LDEQ) on three permits which pave the way for the new enhancements at its Luling facility. The company’s investment is designed to both expand infrastructure and front-end manufacturing capacity at the facility.

Monsanto is focused on making improvements to the company’s manufacturing processes at Luling over the next 18 months by continuing to leverage technology and capital improvements throughout the manufacturing process. These improvements have the potential to increase the site’s manufacturing capacity of Roundup agricultural herbicide by approximately 20% once finalized, which would increase the overall global supply of glyphosate by more than 10%.

The expansion is scheduled for completion in the first half of the company’s 2010 fiscal year.