News

Despite the economic turmoil, DuPont achieved many significant accomplishments last year.  DuPont CEO Ellen Kullman and Chair of the Board Chad Holliday highlight several of these accomplishments in a letter to shareholders in the 2008 DuPont Annual Review.

Some highlights from 2008 include:

• Our Agriculture & Nutrition segment sales grew 16 percent and underlying pretax operating income grew 24 percent.  We laid the groundwork for our Y Series soybeans, which will be the largest product launch in Pioneer history.
  
• For the full year, 64 percent of total sales were generated outside the U.S.  Emerging markets grew 13 percent, representing 29 percent of total sales.
  
• We delivered USD 400 million in variable cost reductions.  Benefits from our fixed cost reduction programs were about USD 425 million—surpassing our goal of USD 400 million. 
  
• We advanced products in our R&D pipeline, such as next-generation refrigerants, and we had successful commercial launches, such as Rynaxypyr® insecticide.
  
• DuPont Danisco and the University of Tennessee broke ground for an innovative pilot-scale biorefinery to produce cellulosic ethanol from nonfood biomass feedstocks.

To read the full letter, click here.

Watch for highlights from the DuPont 2008 Annual Review in future DuPont News articles.