FRANKFURT, Aug 6 Reuters Bayer reported a 16.5 drop in secondquarter adjusted earnings on Tuesday, becoming the latest farming supplies maker hit by lower demand because of falling crop and grain prices.

The slump in agriculture markets poses a new headache for CEO Bill Anderson, who has launched a push to speed up business decisions and slash excess bureaucracy to turn around the embattled diversified group.

The German company39;s quarterly earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation EBITDA, adjusted for oneoff items, fell to 2.1 billion euros 2.3 billion, also dragged lower by negative foreign exchange effects, in line with an average analyst estimate posted on the company39;s website.

Bayer, which had close to 100,000 staff at the end of 2023, said it cut the equivalent of 3,200 fulltime jobs during the first six months of the year, marking an acceleration after it reported a decline of 1,500 during the first quarter.

The CEO has said he would not set specific job cutting targets but predicted that an ongoing unitbyunit review would result in significant cutbacks in aggregate.

U.S. rival Corteva last week cut its fullyear sales and earnings forecasts, hurt by lower prices for its crop protection products.

A decline in agricultural commodity prices has forced farmers to rein in on spending, hurting demand for crop chemicals.

Bayer confirmed its previous fullyear earnings guidance.

Reporting by Ludwig Burger, Editing by Rachel More

Source Reuters