German chemical giant Bayer has announced plans to shut down its herbicide production and development operations at its Frankfurt am Main site by the end of 2028, marking the company's first closure of a German factory in its 161-year history, Biz Community reports.
The decision to close the facility is part of a broader restructuring of Bayer’s Crop Science division, driven by global overcapacity, intense competition from low-cost Asian manufacturers and increasing regulatory constraints in Europe, according to the 19 May report.
Some operations at the Frankfurt site are set to be sold while others will be relocated to Dormagen, which will continue as Bayer’s production facility with the largest portfolio of active ingredients and crop protection products, according to a SCI report.
As part of the streamlining process at Dormagen, production of a number of generic active ingredients and their associated formulations, which were available at significantly lower prices on the global market, would be discontinued, SCI wrote.
Capacities will be focused on “innovative and strategic technologies and products that differentiate Bayer from its competitors”, according to the report.
“We are committed to Germany. However, to live up to this commitment in times of considerable challenges, we need to adjust,” Bayer Crop Science Division head of strategy and sustainability Frank Terhorst said in a statement on the company’s website on 12 May.
“This results in difficult decisions... However, these steps are urgently needed to counteract the significant overcapacity and … price competition with generics manufacturers from Asia, so that we can maintain production facilities in Germany and continue to produce competitively for our customers.”
Bayer said research and development (R&D) activities would be optimised from a cost perspective, and all essential activities would be relocated to the main site in Monheim am Rhein where R&D for insecticides and some fungicides was already located.
About two years ago, Bayer also started construction of a state-of-the-art facility for the development of crop protection products in Monheim and these measures would strengthen the site as a focused centre for R&D of crop protection products, the company said.
Bayer’s plans to streamline operations and reduce costs had come it reported a significant drop in net income in the first quarter of 2025, dropping over 35% to €1.3bn (US$1.46bn) from €2bn (US$2.25bn) the previous year, Biz Community wrote.
The drop was due to a near-tripling of litigation and restructuring costs to €587M (US$661M) and weakening sales performance. The company was also facing numerous US lawsuits alleging its glyphosate-based herbicide Roundup caused cancer, the report said.
Despite these challenges, Bayer’s pharmaceuticals division showed resilience, with a 4% increase in sales and 13% earnings growth, driven by strong demand for new drugs such as Nubeqa and Kerendia. However, crop science revenues declined 4% during the same period.
Bayer CEO Bill Anderson remained cautiously optimistic but noted uncertainty due to tariffs and regulatory pressures, the report said.
The closure of the Frankfurt site, in Industriepark Höchst, and other restructuring measures are part of Bayer’s strategy to focus on strategic and new technologies in the agriculture sector, aiming to return to growth from next year, according to the report.
