ZURICH, April 29 Reuters Seeds and pesticides maker Syngenta suffered big drops in first quarter sales and profit, the company said on Monday, just a few weeks after the Swiss company shelved its plans for a 10 billion flotation.

Sales fell 20 to 7.4 billion, Syngenta said, while core operating profit EBITDA declined by 34 to 1.2 billion, as farmers continued to run down their supplies rather than buying new seeds and sprays.

Higher interest rates were causing destocking by retailers and distributors, Syngenta said, with the crop protection business hardest hit with sales down 20.

The seeds business meanwhile reported sales down 8, said the Chineseowned company that competes with U.S. company Corteva, as well as Germany39;s BASF and Bayer.

Syngenta in March withdrew its bid for a multibillion dollar listing on the Shanghai Stock Exchange amid a period of weakness in the Chinese equity market.

The initial public offering IPO, which would have valued the Sinochem owned company at as much as 60 billion, has been postponed repeatedly since being proposed in 2021 due to unfavourable market conditions.

Syngenta said in March it will restart the listing process in China or elsewhere when the conditions are right while also looking into alternate sources of funding.

Reporting by John Revill, Editing by Friederike Heine

Source Reuters