Agriculture drives DuPont's sales and volume

DuPont is reporting strong first quarter results. The company's Agriculture sales were positively impacted by the change in timing of seed deliveries which benefited first quarter sales by approximately $140 million. This timing change benefited total company net sales by 2 percent in the quarter.

"Our team delivered strong operational performance in the first quarter, growing operating EPS by 30 percent," said Ed Breen, Chairman and CEO. "The strength of our new product introductions and increased demand in key markets together resulted in top-line increases in almost every business. We also made significant progress on key milestones in the merger with Dow, including receipt of conditional approval from the European Commission and an agreement with FMC to divest certain crop protection assets and acquire substantially all of its Health & Nutrition segment. We continue to expect to close the merger in August of this year and quickly begin working on the 500-plus projects already identified to deliver the targeted $3 billion in cost synergies."

DuPont's agricultural division first-quarter 2017 operating earnings of $1,236 million increased $135 million, or 12 percent, on local price and volume growth. Pricing growth was realized by double-digit increases in Brazil driven by the company's newest corn hybrids and increased sunflower seed sales in Europe. Volume growth was driven by an approximately $140 million benefit from the change in timing of seed deliveries, increased insecticides and sunflower seed sales partially offset by a decrease in expected corn acreage in North America. Operating margins expanded by about 240 basis points.