Japan-headquartered Sumitomo Chemical Company is to this week launch its new Powmyl fungicide, which it expects to be rapidly adopted for Black Sigatoka control programs on Latin American banana plantations.

Black Sigatoka is the most important disease in banana crops, where infected plants can suffer dramatic declines in leaf area and yield reductions of up to 50%. 

Sumitomo said Powmyl's "unique mode of action and superior technical and formulation technology" make it an immediate addition for banana fungicide programs that face considerable pressure from resistance.

It comes with MRL and import tolerances to major export markets such as the U.S. and EU, the company added.

"It is always a pleasure to be able to bring a strong product to a market where there is an area of pronounced need," said Jose Eduardo Sanchez, one of Sumitomo Chemical Brazil-based marketing & business development managers.

"Powmyl brings banana growers a powerful new fungicide that not only demonstrates high efficacy against Black Sigatoka, but also helps them to protect the efficacy of their other chemical classes as a novel addition to resistance management programs."

Sumitomo said the product has no demonstrated cross-resistance with other groups of existing banana fungicides.

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