ECONOMY

BASF sustainability strategy: Growing demand is putting an increasing strain on our planet. We already consume more than the Earth can regenerate. Sustainability is therefore crucial for our future. We need to balance economic, environmental and social needs to ensure a more sustainable development. Awareness of sustainability is also increasing among our stakeholders. We need to engage in an open dialogue and act together with and for our customers and other stakeholders. We partner to develop more sustainable solutions which meet society’s needs. This is the growth strategy of our company, which is clearly illustrated by our strategy principle “We create sustainable solutions” and our corporate purpose “We create chemistry for a sustainable future”.

Credit policy in times of crisis: During the culmination of the crisis in Greek economy (2012-2013), the lack of liquidity in the market caused difficulties, insecurity and drop of productive activity in the agricultural sector. Grants in working capital were significantly reduced, the minimum required investments stopped and transactions also decreased. The companies in the crop protection products sector reacted with a drastic reduction of credit towards their clients, in order to minimize the uncertainty risk. This policy, combined with the lack of liquidity, threatened to “freeze” the market. Moreover, negative factors contributed to further aggravate liquidity in the inflow market (fertilizers, seeds, plant protection products). EU subsidies on agriculture were paid to the farmers at year’s end, causing them financial difficulties throughout the year.

As far as the crop protection sector is concerned, the situation was even more difficult as fertilization and sowing come before plant protection: as a result, the two former sectors absorbed the majority of liquidity, leaving little available capital for the latter. Furthermore, credit insurance companies stopped supporting crop protection companies. In this difficult situation, BASF Hellas S.A. made a strategic decision: to support its clients and keep their credit line after having re-assessed them through modern risk management systems and information collection (economic volumes, transaction behavior etc.). In this way, we demonstrated our good faith towards our clients, i.e. agricultural supplies stores, who were in turn able to support Greek farmers as they struggled to protect crops and income. This BASF policy was maintained throughout 2012, without being altered during the period of the 2012 elections. Many companies of the sector eventually followed BASF’s policy and, as a result, farmers were able to cultivate and produce during an extremely hard year as far as liquidity is concerned.