AGRI-SPROUT PHILS. INC. (formerly CyBERTH Phils.Inc.) is a corporation engaged in the trading of crop protection chemicals and inorganic fertilizers. It was registered with the Securities and Exchange Commission on May 23. 2019. It commenced its operations on January 1, 2020. It concentrated its operations mainly in the trading of crop protection chemicals and inorganic fertilizers; chemical fertilizers being capital intensive were sidelined. The scope of its operations covers the local purchase of the technical and inert materials of a particular product, formulation, warehousing and supply of finished products to its authorized distributors.
AGRI-SPROUT PHILS. INC. is only two years in the pesticide industry, but its predecessor, Cyberth Philippines, Inc. had almost twenty-two years in existence in the industry; Cyberth was established on January 28, 1998 with only two registered product brands to sell, and had almost thirty-five registered brands in 2019 before Cyberth officially stopped its operations on December 31, 2019. Reason for the closure of business operations was due to the unfortunate, ill-fated passing of its President, Mr. Luisito E. Bandian on February 15, 2019 while on his personal travel in Vietnam. Mr. LEBandian had a heart attack that resulted to his sudden and untimely demise. Because of this inopportune event, the director-stockholders of Cyberth Phils. Inc. decided to close its operations and start a new company: Agri-Sprout Phils. Inc.
Product Lines. Agri-Sprout Phils. Inc., has legally purchased and received from Cyberth Phils. Inc. the “authority to distribute/sell any/all Cyberth Pesticide Brands currently registered with the Fertilizer & Pesticide Authority”. The Secretary Certificate and the Board Resolution of Cyberth Phils. Inc. stated further:
“Cyberth Philippines, Inc., the lawful owner and holder of FPA product registration of all the pesticide brands registered with FPA agrees to assign, transfer and convey all its rights of ownership and FPA registration of branded Products to Agri-Sprout Phils., Inc. , based on terms and conditions mutually agreed by Both Parties.” Further, the Deed of Assignment states that Cyberth Philippines, Inc., the lawful owner and holder of FPA product registration of all the pesticide brands registered with FPA, agrees “to voluntarily cede, assign, transfer and convey all its rights of ownership and FPA registration of its products with their approved Brand Names to Agri-Sprout Phils., Inc.”.
In return, Agri-Sprout Phils., Inc., showed its willingness “to accept/assume/acquire such rights of ownership and interests”.
With this, AGRI-SPROUT PHILS. INC. started its operations in January 2020 by initially maintaining the distribution/selling of the pesticide brands formerly owned by Cyberth Phils. Inc.. Later during that year, AGRI-SPROUT PHILS. INC. initially submitted to FPA the transfer of registration of some of the Cyberth registered brands; and this will continue until all the Cyberth pesticide brands will be legally transferred to AGRI-SPROUT PHILS. INC.
As of September 15, 2021, the following product brands have been registered with FPA under Agri-Sprout Phils., Inc.:
The following brands will be added within the next months:
Market. Above company products are for the control of pests affecting crop production such as insects, fungus causing diseases, weeds, and golden apple snails. Major crops where these products are positioned are rice, corn, vegetables, and mango. Usage of crop protection chemicals nationwide is estimated at P 5.0 – 6.0 billion annually.
Suppliers. For the products of the company, though the materials are all imported, the company is presently purchasing thru local suppliers. Hence for the materials that are purchased as finished products, we get them from the big local suppliers such as Agchem Manufacturing Corporation, Kemistar Corporation, Leads Agricultural Products Corp. and Magan Agro Phils. Enterprise Inc..
The company is also using Oria Agrotech, Inc. in Norzagaray, Bulacan to formulate the technical materials Cypermethrin, Malathion and Chlorpyrifos into emulsifiable concentrates for the company brands: Knockout 5EC, Warrior 31.5EC, Malathion 57 EC and Chlorpyrifos 48 EC.
Distribution. Agri-Sprout Phils. Inc. does not distribute directly to distributors, dealers or end-users of the products. Instead, the company created a distribution channel whereby the stockholders act as distributors of the company products supplying the dealer/marketing companies they have set up in their respective areas to make the products available to the end-users/farmers.
The four major distributors were created; namely :
- LEB Legacy Agri Corp. – covering Luzon except Bicol Region. Stockholder Arnel E. Bandian owns this company.
- Jynnson’s Phils. Inc. – covering Mindoro Oriental, Mindoro Occidental, Palawan, Siquijor, and Negros Occidental and Negros Oriental. Stockholder Agustin T. Torres owns this company.
- Mambucal Agro Trade – covering Bicol, Samar Islands, Biliran, Leyte, Cebu, Bohol, and Northern Mindanao . Stockholder Benjamin G. Reyes, Jr. owns this company.
- Dadiangas Agri Supply – covering Eastern, Central, and Southern Mindanao. Stockholder Francisco U. Hernando owns this company.
This marketing set-up was initiated in order to decentralize operations in the field. In this manner, marketing strategies could vary from one area to another and provide for immediate actions on situations that could develop in each area. Likewise, overhead is minimized in the Mother Company, Agri-Sprout Phils., Inc. There are only six full-time employees of Agri-Sprout Phils., Inc. who handle the registration of company brands with FPA, supply, distribution & marketing operations, accounting, and administration. These personnel are the following:
- Nida Paz G. Esteras – President & CEO
- Ma. Fe A. Torreon – Accounting & Admin Supervisor
- Antonio C. Vibal – Warehouse & Delivery Supervisor
- Rudenio M. Sabado – Warehouse Supervisor
- Naohmie N. Somoria – Accounting & Operations Assistant
- Marlon R. Magtibay – Delivery Assistant
The four distribution companies directly hire all other personnel covering all admin, accounting, distribution and marketing operations of their respective companies. Each distributor maintains his own organization of sales, technical, accounting, and operations personnel. The combined manpower for the four distributors is around 70. Support personnel such as drivers and warehouse personnel are added where needed. The sales personnel handle product sales to retailers and collections. The technical personnel handle product promotions to the end-users. Each of the sales and technical personnel are provided a company motorcycle for use in their operations. Each distributor maintains a network of retailers of at least one per municipality. Overall, the products of Agri-Sprout Phils., Inc. are sold to around 680 retailers nationwide.
Stocks are positioned in major inland warehouses to make the products readily available to retailers and end-users. All distributors maintain their own warehouses and these are not shouldered by Agri-Sprout Phils., Inc. Orders of the dealers are delivered using delivery vehicles individually owned by the distributors.
Prices. All finished products of Agri-Sprout Phils., Inc. are transferred to the four distributors at margins ranging from a low of 10 % to a high of 40% depending on the product. Gauge for the margin is on similar products available in the market and its prices to retailers and end-users. The distributors pre-determine the transfer price to dealers / retailers and the final / retail price to end-users. Such predetermined price always takes the middle ground, which is neither the lowest nor the highest in the industry. Afterwhich, the margins for the distributors are determined which shall cover overhead and marketing expenses and profit. It is then that the transfer prices of Agri-Sprout Phils., Inc. to distributors are determined.
As a pricing policy, the products must provide a comfortable profit after deducting all product costs and expenses. Since the distribution companies target only realistic sales volumes, it is not bound to have the lowest price in the market.
Each distributor is granted a credit line whose limit is equivalent to their investment + retained earnings. In this manner, the investment + retained earnings of all the stockholders are protected. If a distributor suffers financial difficulties, then the Mother Company is protected and shall continue to function serving the requirements of the other distributors. If the survival of the distributor suffering financial difficulty is no longer viable, then, the company buys back the stocks at book value to offset the receivables. Then, the other shareholders buy the treasury shares also at book value and a new distributor is appointed.
The term to distributors is ninety (90) days. If need be, it could become shorter if the company needs to purchase a sizeable volume of materials from suppliers or longer if the product is just being introduced in the market. However, the term is not strictly enforced especially for new brands introduced to the market.
The distributors likewise maintain a ninety- (90) day’s term to their dealers. New products are sold on consignment basis.
Competition. The industry used to be lorded over by multi-nationals like Bayer, Phils., Inc., Syng Save enta Phils., Inc., Dow AgroSciences, Jardine-Davies, Monsanto Phils, Inc., etc. However, the multi-nationals have since then decreased in number due to mergers or buyouts considering that the Philippine market is static and not growing in sizeable volume. With a small playing field, a big number of multi-national agricultural chemical companies can not survive on a long-term basis.
The technical materials for the crop protection chemicals used to be produced only by the multi-national companies. However, with the expiration of their patents, cheap sources emerged like India and People’s Republic of China. With cheap technology and cheap labor, they are able to manufacture the technical materials at very competitive prices.
With this situation, small marketing outfits could now be formed to trade commodity products at affordable costs to the Filipino farmers. The proprietary products of the multi-nationals while effective and environment friendly are very expensive to use considering the very low budget of the farmer for inputs. As a result, Agri-Sprout Phils., Inc., a small Filipino company was able to penetrate and capture a good share of the market.
Banking Facilities. At present, two banks provide the banking needs of the company. Metropolitan Bank & Trust Company (Metrobank), Los Baños, Laguna Branch and Bank of the Philippine Islands (BPI). Los Baños, Laguna.
Contact Us
Warehose address:
5237 National Highway
Maahas, Los Baños, Laguna 4030
Nida Paz G. Esteras
Mobile: 0917 8660535