Bayer and Sumitomo Chemical have agreed to cooperate in developing new fungicides aimed at controlling soybean diseases in Brazil. Financial details of the partnership were not disclosed.

The Japanese group is currently developing a novel fungicide that is said to be broadly effective against fungal pathogens and displays high activity against major soybean diseases such as Asian soybean rust. During their collaboration, Sumitomo will continue to develop this fungicide while Bayer will focus on developing mixture products designed to manage the fungal diseases that are prevalent in Brazilian soybean crops.

“Our novel compound will bring effective solutions to control major diseases and help our customers improve their productivity and profitability globally. The mixture products to be developed by each company in Brazil will broaden the choices for soybean disease control and contribute to stable production with their excellent performance,” said Ray Nishimoto, Sumitomo Chemical’s representative director, senior managing executive officer and president of health & crop sciences.

“Growers have consistently told us that bacterial, viral and fungal diseases as well as devastating nematodes are the biggest problem they face,” added Liam Condon, member of Bayer’s board of management and president of its crop science division.

Both companies expect to submit their product registration applications at the end of this year. Commercialization will begin once the products have been registered and approved by the appropriate regulatory authorities.

In January, Bayer sold the rights for agricultural fungicide Metominostrobin in Japan, where it is used on rice plants in paddy fields, to Summit Agro, a wholly owned subsidiary of Sumitomo. The agreement followed a previous deal with Summit Agro in April 2014, when Bayer sold the rights to manufacture and distribute Metominostrobin in all markets worldwide, excluding Japan.

Outside Japan, Metominostrobin is used mainly for protecting soybeans. Summit Agro said it is looking to expand Metominostrobin’s applications to include fruit and vegetables by combining the fungicide with other agents. The target is to achieve several billion yen in global sales by 2020.