Shares in Syngenta added further ground to their October rally after the agrochemicals and seeds group noted it was benefiting from the switch to soybeans which is hurting rival Dow Chemical.

Syngenta said that, while group sales fell by 12% in the July-to-September period, it had noted a jump in trade in Latin America, which is in the middle of corn and soybean plantings.

In agrochemicals, of which Syngenta is the world's largest manufacturer, "Latin American saw robust volume growth at the start of the main season, supported by higher soybean acres".

Sales of fungicides and insecticides were particularly strong.

Seed sales showed "good growth" of 7%, driven largely by rising soybean plantings in Brazil, which is widely expected to produce a record crop in 2009-10.

'Downgrade cycle nears end' 

The data, and Syngenta's confirmation that it was on track for 2009 earnings "close to" last year's record, were broadly welcomed by analysts.

City broker Icap said that the Swiss group's Latin American performance "augurs well" for fourth quarter results.

"We see small upgrades to consensus post the third quarter release - a sign, perhaps, that the earnings downgrade cycle is nearing the end," Icap added.

Syngenta shares closed up 1.0% at SFr253.25, taking their gains over the last three weeks to 13%. The shares touched SFr262.75 earlier on Friday.

Dow dented 

However, Syngenta's experience contrasted with that of Dow. The US industrial conglomerate on Thursday blamed a 20% tumble in sales at its health and agricultural sciences division in part on "shifting commodity prices [which] favoured soybean versus corn" in Latin America.

"Dow has a much larger share of corn in the region, so we sold less seed in the quarter," Dow Chief executive Andrew Liveris said.

Both groups reported damage to the price war in glyphosphate, a popular herbicide, which has also hurt groups including US agribusiness giant Monsanto and Australian chemicals distributor Nufarm.

Syngenta's herbicide sales slumped by more than 20% in the quarter, while Dow noted "steep price declines" in glyphospate thanks to "excess industry supply".